Gabriella Ryan Taylor Manhattan
by MissCar
Summary: What happens when you put three very brokenhearted friends/ex friends in the same city around the same time? Nothing good, that is for sure. A Thanksgiving story. R/G or R/TM
1. Scene Setter

Scenes from Freshman Year presents: Gabriella/Ryan/Taylor/ Manhattan

Rated T but could go up to M

Summary: What happens when you put three very brokenhearted friends/ex friends in the same city around Thanksgiving? Nothing good, that is for sure. A _Scenes from Freshman Year_ story

Post HSM3

This story is set in the same universe as my story _Scenes from Freshman year_. That story follows Chad and Sharpay during their first year of college. For a while, I wanted to write a story about what the other wildcats were doing at the same time. You do not need to read SFFY to understand this one. It might be more fun not to know what is going on in the other story. Everything you need to know will be mentioned in this story. This is going to be short, no more than a couple of chapters.

Main characters: Gabriella, Ryan, and Taylor

Possible Pairings: Gabriella/Ryan or Ryan/Taylor

**Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical. **

* * *

Chapter One: Scene Setter

Ryan Evans always dreamed of being on Broadway. Unlike his sister, he didn't want to be an actor but rather a dancer. He knew from the age of five when they worked with the choreographer all the time that he was to be a dancer. When he got into Juilliard, he knew his dream would come true. He was upset about his sister not coming with him. They have always been together and it was strange to be apart for the first time.

At first things were easier because his girl friend Kelsey was with him in NYC. That was until his girlfriend broke up with him for no reason whatsoever. All she said was that she could not love him as more than a friend. Ryan felt as if she stabbed him in the heart with a knife. Even though she did not love him, he loved her.

At least he and Kelsey were still friends or were trying to be. They were still such good friends that he drove Kelsey and her roommate to JFK. If Ryan were not so focused on trying to drive through rush hour traffic, he would notice Kelsey holding Natasha's hand. Yet Ryan did not see this and was still completely unaware of the real reason why his relationship with Kelsey did not work out.

Ryan would talk to his sister or his best friend Chad about the breakup, if they were not preoccupied with making out. Ryan sister was currently dating Chad. Actually, it went beyond dating. Ryan and Chad's ex girlfriend Taylor referred to it as pre marriage. Ryan was positive that by the end of freshman year, he would have a brother in law. That or Ryan would be an Uncle.

There was no way he was going to tell his blissfully happy so in love sister about being dumped and being in love with someone who didn't love him. Instead, he commiserated with his friend Taylor who understood exactly what he was going through.

Taylor understood a broken heart perfectly, because Chad and Sharpay technically got together while Taylor was still dating Chad. What made it worse Taylor found out about the two before Chad was able to break the news gently. This resulted in a plasma television being smashed. When Kelsey broke up with Ryan, he threw away every single CD or DVD that contained anything Kelsey composed. He even threw away the sheet music.

Ryan blamed himself for Taylor's heart being broken. In an attempt to keep Sharpay safe at A of U, he manipulated things in a way that led to his sister hooking up with Chad. He felt so guilty that he invited Taylor for a shopping weekend in Manhattan during Thanksgiving break. He reserved a suite at the Gardens Hotel in midtown Manhattan for them. He would be treating her to shopping and a day trip to the best spa in New York. Ryan felt this would be the perfect way to make up everything to Taylor.

The other thing that Ryan was planning on doing was helping Taylor work things out with Gabriella. A few weeks ago, Gabriella and Taylor had the mother of all best friend breakups. Taylor will not talk to him about what happen and Gabriella has no idea why Taylor stopped calling.

If Ryan knew why Taylor stopped talking to Gabriella, he definitely would not be trying to get the two back together. Ryan didn't know that Gabriella humiliated Taylor by posting a clip of Taylor's ex boyfriend doing inappropriate things with Ryan sister on YouTube. The clip was made accidentally when Chad was still technically dating Taylor and somebody's spike Sharpay's drink at a party. Don't ask, it is a long dysfunctional story.

If Ryan knew that Gabriella was the one responsible for humiliating his sister and two of his good friends he would most likely push her out the window of a high-rise. However, none of Ryan's friends told him about Gabriella's involvement, because they didn't want him to be brought up on homicide charges.

* * *

Taylor McKessie was definitely not having a good year. She hated her school. She hated her roommate. She hated her former best friend. She also hated the fact that her boyfriend of over a year and a half fell in love with someone else. Most of the anger and pain had dissipated by this point. She and Chad had talked things out. Maybe at some point down the road they could be friends again. Talking to Ryan helped a lot. They definitely bonded over their mutual heartbreak.

There was also her Aunt Vanessa's stepdaughter Kim. Aunt Vanessa was not Taylor's real aunt, but rather of really good friend of her mother. Even though she really didn't know the girl that well at the time, Kim was the one who helped her the day she found out about her boyfriend falling in love with someone else. Now Taylor talked to Kim all the time.

Around the time that Gabriella completely ruined their friendship by posting a certain video on YouTube, Kim put a very dangerous idea into Taylor's mind.

"_I don't know why Chad and Sharpay keep apologizing. It's not like they can do anything to make up for what happened." Taylor said to Kim on the phone._

"_I'm sure keeping you from getting expelled for demolishing two dorm rooms when you found out about their relationship was a good start. They just feel bad about what happened and want to make it up to you. They did not plan on hurting you." Kim said trying to comfort her, but it did not help._

"_I know they were not planning on it, but it still hurt. There's no way to be even for something like this." Taylor said with a sigh. _

"_You could always sleep with Ryan." Kim said with a laugh._

Taylor knew Kim meant it as a joke. Yet, she could not get the idea out of her mind. At the time, Ryan was still with Kelsey. There was no way Taylor was going to do to her friend what Sharpay did to her. Now that Ryan and Kelsey were no more, the ideal had a certain appeal. In a weird way, it made sense. However, Taylor could not bring herself to use Ryan like that.

Then a couple of weeks ago her brother sent her footage of the play that he co-wrote with Sharpay. Her evil 12-year-old Brother Jason did not warn her about the Chad/Sharpay make out scene at the end of the play. Unlike the previous video footage she witness, this time she could tell the two were very much in love. That is what hurt the most. Taylor was not upset because Sharpay had Chad. Taylor was upset because Sharpay had someone that truly loved her.

After being forced to watch Chad kiss Sharpay in a way that he never kissed her, she convinced herself that maybe hooking up with Ryan just to spite Sharpay wouldn't be such a bad idea. They were both very lonely after the breakups. It would just be a rebound thing for both of them. It would be a way for the two of them to work through the pain. At least that is how Taylor justified it in her mind when she started packing her black lace lingerie for her trip to see Ryan.

Taylor started her plan at the train station the Tuesday before thanksgiving when she kissed Ryan on the cheek when he hugged her. When they stopped for coffee on the way to the hotel, she started flirting with him and he flirted back. They spent the whole time talking about everything from his crazy roommate who played the Chad/Sharpay almost sex tape constantly to annoy Ryan to her plans to transfer to a school in the DC area. Things were going good that afternoon for Taylor until she saw the last person she wanted to see at the hotel.

* * *

Gabriella Montez had not been in a good mood sense her boyfriend broke up with her for no good reason last month. She didn't believe his excuse about not being able to be in a serious relationship at the moment. She knew that was a complete lie.

On the advice of her fellow sorority Sister Mercedes, she showed up at his dorm room every day for the first week after their breakup trying to convince him it was the wrong decision. She tried not to think about the fact that she visited him more in the week after the breakup then in the entire time since they started school.

Finally, he told her the real reason why he broke up with her. He was a little upset about her breaking into his computer and posting a file of Chad and Sharpay doing very naughty things to the Internet. It was just a joke. She had no idea why he was taking it so seriously. She should be the one upset for him having something like that on his computer in the first place. He was probably using the video file for private time.

The day after Troy return from his first away game of the season Gabriella decided to surprise Troy by showing up to his dorm room in nothing but a trench coat and stilettos. Mercedes told her it was a sure fire way to get Troy back. Troy's reaction to the whole thing was to leave her alone in his dorm room for 3 hours.

"_I thought you said this would work." Gabriella yelled at her roommate after she returned home from her failed seduction attempt._

"_How was I supposed to know your ex boyfriend was different than most guys we know. Some guys don't want things they can have easily. Some men like a challenge. If your ex thinks someone else wants you, maybe he'll come back." Mercedes said in an attempt to calm Gabriella down._

"_What are you suggesting?"_

"_Make him jealous."_

"_Like that's going to work on Troy. The only time I've ever seen him the least bit jealous was when he caught me hanging out with my friend Ryan."_

"_So use Ryan."_

"_That's not going to work. He lives in Manhattan at the moment."_

"_Your mom lives in New York City right now. I bet you're going up for Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks."_

"_Yes and I already have plans to meet Ryan for dinner the Wednesday before Thanksgiving."_

"_So just turned dinner into something more and take a picture of it." _

What Gabriella didn't know was Mercedes was purposely giving her bad advice. Mercedes had a very large crush on Gabriella's ex and wanted to ensure that Gabriella was out of the way.

What Mercedes and Gabriella did not know was that Troy was in a very serious relationship with Gabriella's predecessor and successor Kim. The same Kim that was now Taylor's new BFF.

Because Gabriella was completely ignorant of what was going on she decided to go to Manhattan with the full intent of seducing Ryan as Mercedes suggest. The most important part of her plan was getting to spend more time with Ryan. Using a really good sob story, she was able to convince Ryan to let her stay with him at his hotel suite. 15 minutes with her parading around in her most skimpy outfits, she would have the footage she needed to make Troy completely jealous. There was just one problem.

* * *

"What is she doing here?" Gabriella and Taylor yelled at the same time as they saw the other girl at the hotel. When the two girls started yelling at each other Ryan wondered if he should have listened to Chad and kept these two girls a part.

* * *

A/N: For everyone who is reading Scenes from Freshman Year, I have the draft of chapter 20 almost done and will post in a few days.


	2. Sleeping Arrangements

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Also I am borrowing the fake retail chain Smarty-Mart from Kim Possible, another Disney property that I miss greatly. Also in this chapter you will find out why Gabriella has been so OOC in the SFFY continuum.

Chapter Two: Sleeping Arrangements

* * *

Taylor was absolutely furious that Gabriella was there. She never wanted to see Gabriella again after what she did. After calling Gabriella several variations of the word whore, she pulled Ryan into one of the bedrooms to speak with him privately.

"There's no way I am going to spend the next four days with that woman." Taylor practically yelled at Ryan. Fortunately, spending the first 18 years of his life with Sharpay prepared him for situations like this.

"I invited her here because I don't think you should throw away two years of friendship over some silly little argument. You two really need to work things out. I thought that by her being here, you could finally talk."

"This wasn't some little argument Ryan. I've already said everything I wanted to say to her back there." Actually there were more thing she wanted to say to Gabriella, but wouldn't because Ryan was there.

"I'm sure calling her a bitch really helped the situation," Ryan said sarcastically as he sat down on the king sized bed.

"Probably not, but it made me feel better. Ryan I rather spend the entire holiday watching your sister fondling my ex boyfriend then be with Gabriella. At least I can tolerate your sister. She's not evil. " Taylor said as she sat next to Ryan.

"I don't know what happened with you and Gabriella because you won't tell me." Ryan picks up Taylor's hand as he says this. She feels a little tingle run down her spine. If Taylor told Ryan the real reason for her best friend breakup with Gabriella, Ryan would most likely kick Gabriella out of the hotel suite. The problem is he would most likely do it literally through the window.

Troy made Taylor promise not to Kill Gabriella for her role in the almost sex tape incident and not to tell anybody who may harbor homicidal tendencies. Even though Troy doesn't love Gabriella anymore ,he still doesn't want her dead or severely maimed.

"That sweet girl we went to high school with is dead. When Gabriella got to college, she became this completely different person. For the first time in her life she had freedom and she went wild with it. Gabriella stopped calling or even text messaging her friends. She barely even talk to Troy for the first few months of the school year. She was too busy with her new sorority friend Mercedes and living the college life. She was so busy that when I needed my best friend the most, she wasn't there. She was too busy drinking jello shots at some frat party. I ended up being baby sat by someone I didn't really know during my nervous breakdown when I found out my boyfriend was in love with someone else."

"Isn't Kim your aunt's stepdaughter? She went to our high school." Ryan asked in surprise.

"Vanessa is not my real aunt and Kim was too pregnant to come to the wedding two years ago. Ryan if you remember correctly, we did an even start talking to each other until two years ago.

"Because you were a brain and I was a thespian. We weren't supposed to talk to each other because that was against the rules.

"Yet somehow your sister was both. You know even with the tutor, your sister is getting better grades and I am."

"That is because of Chad and their 'special' study sessions."

"I don't want to know what your sister does with my ex."

"Yet you put money in the pool about when their first time will take place and when the wedding will be."

"Yes, because it's easy money. If they really want to make it up to me they will have their first time on Inauguration day. The pool is already up to $6000. If anybody deserves the money, it's me. I'm still not sure what day I should choose for the wedding. "

"At least you're getting to the point where you can joke about the whole situation. I still cringe every time I see Kelsey."

"Yet you still took her to the airport yesterday."

"I'll make you a deal. Come with us to dinner tonight and then you won't have to spend any more time with Gabriella then absolutely necessary. She's not going to be with us at the spa Tomorrow and Thursday she will be at her mom's house all day."

"What about shopping Friday?"

"Just you, me, and daddy's credit card. We may be able to fit in some extra shopping tomorrow after the spa."

"I am not sharing a room with her."

"It's Thanksgiving weekend in New York. There's no way they're going to have another room in this hotel."

"That's your problem. You invited her. You take care of the room situation."

* * *

Gabriella was not happy. Her plan was falling apart even before it started. With Taylor here she wouldn't be able to do half the stuff she was planning. For all she knew Taylor could be telling Ryan all about the Chad/Sharpay sex tape incident. She wasn't completely sure if Ryan would see it as a joke or take things too seriously like Troy. Worse, Taylor could be trying to seduce Ryan herself. She wouldn't put it past Taylor to do something like that just to get back at her.

After 10 minutes she decided to call Mercedes to let her know that she was okay and that the plan was already falling apart. Mercedes was able to help her get things back in to perspective.

"I doubt Taylor is going to be a real threat. Didn't she lose her boyfriend to the same girl that unsuccessfully tried to steal Troy from you several times? She doesn't stand a chance against you. You just need to change your strategy. Instead of going for the direct approach you need to be subtle."

"How do I do subtle?" Gabriella asked Mercedes.

"Flirt with him a little. Laugh at his jokes. Dance with him. Do whatever you have to do to get the footage. You're not gonna lose to that girl. I have complete faith in you."

"I'll call you tonight." Gabriella said as she shut the phone. On the other side of the country Mercedes was confident that this whole entire thing would blow up in Gabriella's face and Troy would be hers.

* * *

"I understand it is Thanksgiving, but I really need another room." Ryan said in annoyance to Mr. Nicholas at the front desk.

"I'm sorry sir." Mr. Nicholas replied in a condescending voice.

"There's not one room in the hotel available? Even for a personal friend of Kim Kim." Ryan was almost sure the man was laughing at him at this point.

"Everyone says there a personal friend of Kim Kim. If you were are personal friend of Kim Kim you would know her name isn't Kim Kim anymore."

"Okay she's more of my sister's best friend and of course my sister doesn't tell me that she got married. Can I get a roll away bed." He can hear Taylor laughing behind him. Maybe it wasn't the best ideal to put this call on speaker phone.

"This is a four star hotel sir. We don't do roll away beds." Ryan could hear the stain in the man's voice.

"How about an air mattress then?" At this point Ryan could hear laughter in the background of the call.

"Sure I will just hop over to jersey to pick one up at the nearest Smarty-Mart." Mr. Nicholas said sarcastically as he hung up on Ryan. At this point Taylor was laughing hysterically on the bed.

"It wasn't that funny." Ryan said as he threw the phone next to her.

"Yes it was. If they had an air mattress where were we going to put it? Because there's no way I'm sleeping out in the living room. That is still too close to her for my taste."

"I figured we could just set it up in here. If you're okay with that. We can just pick one up from Super Blue our selves. I'm sure the one in the city will have what we want. I don't feel like going out to the suburbs." Ryan was planning on forgetting to pick up the air mattress. For some reason that he would not even admit to himself he wanted to sleep in the same bed with Taylor.

"Are you sure you want me in here and not Gabby."

"Positive, you're not an only child and have shared a room before." At that comment Taylor through a pillow at him.

"I meant that as a compliment."

* * *

Dinner was an absolute disaster in Taylor's opinion. The food was good but half the company was lousy. The entire time Gabriella was obviously flirting with Ryan. Ryan's jokes were not that funny. If Gabriella touched Ryan one more time, she was going to stab her with a fork. Yet Ryan was completely oblivious to what was going on. Actually, he was beyond oblivious. She couldn't take much more of the Ryan and Gabriella show. Taylor was positive Gabriella was up to something.

Taylor must have been desperate to engage in a text message conversation with Sharpay. Taylor finds it strange that she has a better relationship with Sharpay now after she stole her boyfriend then before. Occasionally they talk to each other about various things including Ryan and her brother Jason. She is glad that Sharpay has been helping her brother acclimate to high school. It is hard to be in high school when your two years younger than everyone else.

**To boyfriend stealer:** Your brother is an idiot

**From boyfriend stealer:** Your brother just told Troy's mom about Alex.

When she saw that message from Sharpay she quickly covered the screen. Neither Ryan or Gabriella knew about Alex. She could probably tell Ryan, but couldn't risk Gabriella finding out.

Troy made Taylor promise not to tell Gabriella that he was dating his ex girlfriend again. She was also not allowed to tell Gabriella that he had a child two years ago with said ex girlfriend and didn't know about it until a month ago. Under no circumstances whatsoever was she to tell Gabriella that Kim's new last name was Bolton. Although she wanted to.

**To boyfriend stealer:** Your brother invited the FMG to stay with us.

**From boyfriend stealer:** Kill the bitch. She posted the AST.

Taylor started laughing hysterically when she read Sharpay's message. She knew AST stood for almost sex taped. Ryan was starring at her, but Gabriella was too busy with Ryan to notice.

**To boyfriend stealer:** I already know. Troy won't let me. How did you find out?

**From boyfriend stealer**: Troy told me accidentally. Chad won't let me beat her up.

**To boyfriend stealer:** Stupid boyfriend

**From boyfriend stealer:** Maybe we can send the FMG a copy of Kim's new driver's license instead?

**To boyfriend stealer:** Wedding announcement with happy couple picture would be so much better.

**From boyfriend stealer:** I know. We need an announcement with Alex in the picture. Father and son looks so cute together

**To boyfriend stealer:** You are too evil.

* * *

Gabriella was sure she would have the footage she needed to make Troy jealous. Ryan was falling for every single one of her lines. He was smiling, laughing, and letting her touch him. Ryan's focus was only on her. Taylor was not even putting up a fight anymore. Sometime during the entree she started playing on her cell phone. She was just about to go in for the kill when Ryan grabbed Taylor's phone from her and started reading the screen.

"You know it's rude to text during dinner." Ryan said as he obviously started reading the messages on the phone.

"Not when the others at the table ignore you." Taylor said under her breath.

"You were sending text messages to my sister?" Ryan asked Taylor in shock.

"You're sending text messages to the girl that took your boyfriend?" Gabriella asked Taylor in pure surprise with a touch of maliciousness.

"Sharpay did not take my boyfriend. Our relationship didn't work out for a lot of different reasons. Yes the major reason we broke up was he fell in love with someone else. However, I don't blame him for that and I don't blame her. It was just one of those things that happened." Ryan started laughing when Taylor said this.

"Yes Ryan I know what I call your sister on my cell phone, it's a joke. On her phone she refers to me as Chad's ex."

"So you just let him go? You didn't even put up a fight?"

"Nobody told you about the plasma did they?" She heard Ryan muttered under his breath.

"I stopped fighting after I realized he was in love with her."

"You already destroyed half of Sharpay's closet by that point." Ryan said as he mostly focused on Taylor cellphone.

"Your father can afford to replace them. My point is once I realized he moved on, I stopped. I didn't do something desperate like show up to his dorm room in a trench coat. Like some people we know." She noticed Ryan in complete shock at Taylor statement. In truth, Ryan was in shock because he found out Kim's new last name was Bolton.

"How did you find out about that?"

"Troy and I are still really good friends. He told me all about your desperate attempts. All of them. There is this really good book out called _He's Just Not That into You_. I think you should read it. There even making it into a movie."

"She's very familiar with the book. She gave it to Sharpay as her Christmas/birthday present last year." Ryan said with a laugh.

"Maybe Sharpay can re-gift. She certainly doesn't need the book anymore since she has a boyfriend that actually loves her." Taylor said very snidely.

"We're just on a break. Troy loves me."

"No he doesn't. Maybe once upon a time he did, but not anymore. That love went away when you ignored him and then betrayed his trust. I know about the computer incident." Taylor said that part in an ice covered whisper that only she could hear.

"I still love him." Gabriella said in a whisper.

"I'm gonna repeat to use some advice that I didn't want to hear. Gabriella you don't know Troy enough to really love him. You don't know anything about Troy beyond what he wanted you to see. You don't know about his past."

"Troy and I talked about everything."

"No you didn't. He never even told you about his first love. He even lied to you about the tree house. Remember when he told you that the only other girl he had in the tree house besides you was his mother. He lied. I was speaking to that certain ex girlfriend the other day, he lost his virginity up there to her about three years ago. Did you still believe that your precious Troy had his V card? Kim took that a long time ago." At that comment Gabriella ran out of the restaurant crying.

She was expecting Ryan to follow her to make her feel better. Unfortunately, Ryan never came. It was moments like this she almost wished she was still taking her medication. However, Gabriella was convinced she was well enough not to need it anymore.

* * *

Ryan probably should have been paying better attention to the conversation between Gabriella and Taylor. But he didn't feel like refereeing their arguments. He only provided color commentary when appropriate. Ryan was much too busy reading text messages that he shouldn't be reading. If he didn't know about the history between Sharpay and Taylor he would almost think they were best friends from the messages they were exchanging.

However, Ryan was more interested about all the text messages mentioning Alex, Troy, and Kim. Taylor's final comment about the tree house cemented everything together. He was too stunned to follow Gabriella outside.

"So I'm guessing the new last name for Kim, the guy on the desk was referring to is Bolton."

"Yes among other things."

"That's why Chad had Alex with him at the Airport today? Chad took him to see his daddy?"

"Probably." Taylor said quietly.

"What about the computer incident you mentioned?"

"A couple of weeks ago right after the breakup with Chad I told Gabriella all about Kim. I didn't tell her anything about Alex. However, what I did say was enough to get her to break into Troy's computer. He broke up with her because he couldn't trust her after that."

"There's something else?""

"Yes but I'm not allowed to tell anybody else. Let's just say Gabriella gave him several reasons not to trust her."

"She doesn't know about Alex or Kim?"

"No and we're not gonna tell her. That isTroy's job. Knowing him he will probably wait to the five year reunion when he shows up with his wife and six year old child."

"Yet you and my sister were conspiring on the most vicious ways to tell her."

"We were bored and she deserved it."

* * *

The ride back to the hotel was pure torture. Gabriella kept giving Taylor icy glares as she kept hugging Ryan and crying into his shoulder.

Now she definitely wasn't going to tell her about Troy because she would probably use it as an excuse to hug up on Ryan even more. Just seeing them together made Taylor furious. It got worse when they reached the hotel. Gabriella was walking around in short shorts and a tank top that should be called a bra. She definitely caught Ryan looking at Gabriella's legs once or twice.

At least Taylor packed some decent sleep in close. With Gabriella there, she doubted she would get an opportunity to break out the black lace. It was probably for the best.

But what made Taylor absolutely livid was when Gabriella actually tried to convince Ryan that she should stay with Ryan in his room. Gabriella tried to use some sob story about not wanting to be alone. Fortunately Ryan blew her off.

"Are you sure you don't wanna spend time with Gabby." Taylor said in a sickeningly sweet voice as she placed her toiletries back in her suitcase. She was dressed in a tank top and a pair of sweat pants.

"No I rather gossip with you. You know all the juicy stuff." Ryan said as he walked over to her.

"I already told you all the juicy stuff I know." At that moment Ryan look down at her suitcase. He saw the black teddy lying on top. For some reason he picked it up. Unfortunately, underneath was the pack of condom she brought. She was mortified.

"It is not what you think." She said quickly grabbing the lingerie from his hands.

"So you didn't pack condoms and lingerie in hopes of some random hook up to make the pain go away." Except for the random part, he pretty much knew exactly what she was planning. At the very least, her first time would be with someone she loved even if it was as just a friend. Lately she was wondering if she still saw Ryan as just a friend.

"Maybe I did." Taylor said in a whisper as she sat down on the king sized bed. She quickly felt Ryan's arm go around her. She felt so comfortable being with him like this.

"You're worth more than a one night stand. You are a beautiful and intelligent person. Someday you'll find the one person who will see you for the wonderful person you are and love you for it. I know you're upset about what happened, but you shouldn't use that as an excuse to do something stupid.

"I'm not angry at Chad anymore for choosing someone else. I think I am more jealous about the fact that he already found the one person he supposed to be with. We all know Chad will be your future brother in law. I've accepted it. I've also accepted the fact that I'm probably going to be the cat lady."

"You're not cat lady. You just turn 19 a few weeks ago. Why should we be concerned with finding a soul mate at 19? There are some people like my sister and apparently Troy who find the person they are supposed to be with at a young age. They found a life partner that they can grow up with and grow old with. Maybe you and I are the type of people that need to grow up and become the people we want to be before we find our life partner." They were laying on the bed at this point.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I need to focus on other things like transferring to DC next year and finding a good internship."

"Besides you always have me. It's a lot easier for me to get down to DC. I'll probably be down every other weekend next year." Ryan said as he reached over and kissed her on the forehead.

"I just thought of something." Taylor said as she lay back down using his chest as a pillow.

"What's that?"

"We forgot to pick up the air mattress."

"Is that a problem?" Ryan asked her as he stroked her hair.

"Not really, you make a good pillow." Taylor said as she bent over to kiss him on the cheek. Instead she missed and accidentally kissed him on the lips. Honestly it was an accident, even though the kiss lasted for about 69 seconds.


	3. Of Cell Phones and Lingerie

Chapter three: Of Cell Phones and Lingerie

Warning: This chapter has some dark subject matter and sexual content

I'm not a medical doctor. Don't assume Gabriella's behavior is typical of someone with her condition. Her behavior is based on personal observations and research.

* * *

Gabriella was not having a good morning. First of all things were definitely not going good with Ryan. Phase two of her plan was just not going to happen. Around 7:00 AM she tried to sneak into Ryan's room to surprise him in her most skimpy lingerie. Unfortunately, Taylor was already there. Taylor was lying on Ryan's chest with his arms around her. This was not good.

At breakfast Gabriella asked why they were sharing a room when the couch in the living room was a convertible. Neither one answered her. Later on Ryan said he forgot. For some reason she didn't believe him.

Taylor was all over Ryan at breakfast. They were holding hands and touching the entire time. Taylor even grabbed a strawberry off of Ryan's plate. Gabriella didn't remember them being this close in high school. Maybe the happy pills aka her anti depressants kept her from seeing this back then. Although it may be because Taylor was with Chad and Ryan was following Sharpay as her own personal servant.

The second thing that annoyed Gabriella was she wasn't going with Ryan and Taylor to the spa. Ryan said it was because he was unable to change the reservation on short notice. Gabriella knew it was because Taylor couldn't stand being with her for more than a few minutes at a time.

Gabriella had no idea why her ex BFF hated her now. Gabriella couldn't understand why Taylor was so upset about her not calling her back after the Chad Sharpay hook up. Was this the only reason why she lost her best friend? Gabriella did not know.

The third thing that really irritated her was the fact she was spending the morning with her mother instead of with Ryan. Usually she loved spending time with her mom, but not at the moment. Her mom was going to ask too many questions that she did not want to answer such as "Are you taking your medication?" "Are you still seeing Dr. Robinson? She is one of the best psychiatrists in the area." "Are you still friends with that Mercedes girl? I really don't like her."

Every time Gabriella's mom asked one of these questions, Gabriella would change the subject without answering. Gabriella didn't want to have their mother/daughter time turned into a big fight. Unfortunately, it happened anyway. Four hours into shopping Gabriella's mom asked the wrong question.

"Are you seeing anybody new?" Gabriella's mom asked as they were walking through the junior section at Macy's.

"Why should I. This is just a break." Gabriella said as she picked up a black lace blouse from the sales rack.

"Gabriella I don't think it is." Gabriella's mother said in a very quiet voice.

What Gabriella's mom didn't tell her was she knew for a fact that this was not a break. Maria spent an hour on the phone with Troy's mom yesterday. Lucy was ranting about the fact that Troy is now engaged to that Kim girl and they have a two-year-old child together. Lucy always argued that the relationship between Kim and Troy was just lust. Maria knew better. Especially after the letter she mysteriously received early this morning.

This is why Maria was trying to prepare her daughter for when she found out her ex boyfriend was completely in love with someone else and had a kid. In Maria's mine, the only good thing about the situation was Troy broke up with Gabriella before he got back with Kim. Maria knew you couldn't fight true love.

"Troy loves me. Why else would he go to Berkeley just to be near me?"

"The Drama program and a full ride scholarship," Maria said so low that her daughter couldn't hear.

"I'm sure Troy loves you in a way, but did you ever consider the possibility that he could love somebody else?" Maria said as she put one arm around her daughter.

"Are you talking about Kim?" Gabriella noticed her mom almost go pale when she said the name.

"You know about Kim?" Maria said in a near whisper.

"Only what Taylor told me. Apparently Kim is this great first love that Troy had before he met me. I don't believe that. If there was someone before me Troy would have told me. The rumor mill would have said something on the subject."

"Gabriella the rumor mill doesn't know everything. You know I went to college with Troy's mom right. We have been friends for a really long time and she told me about Troy's former girlfriend. Troy did date Kim in high school. Lucy didn't like her because she was two years older than Troy. She somehow managed to convince Kim to leave."

What Maria didn't tell Gabriella was according to the letter that she received this morning; her so-called friend manipulated Kim into leaving. The letter also explained how Lucy used her daughter Gabriella to keep Troy from his former girlfriend. If Maria ever saw Lucy again in person, she was going to punch the woman in the face.

"If she left without a fight, that mean she doesn't love him. I have nothing to worry about." Gabriella said in complete denial.

"You are not taking your medication, are you?" The question came out of nowhere in Gabriella's mind.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Gabriella couldn't see the connection.

"You are being irrational about the entire breakup. You have been avoiding your friends for weeks. According to one of your suite mates, during midterms you went through something that resembled one of your manic stages. You've been bouncing between extremely happy and bitterly depressed four weeks now. I just don't want a repeat of what happened last time."

"What does it matter? I'm an adult now. I was depressed before because we're moving around all the time. It's hard when you have to lose your friends every few months. Now that there's some normalcy in my life I'm fine. I don't need the medication." Gabriella notice her mom's body go completely rigid at that statement.

"Gabriella your deluding yourself if you think your issues are just normal depression. You're bipolar Gabriella. Before you were diagnosed you used to lock yourself up in your room for days. You're fighting with Taylor right now for no reason. Don't you see something is seriously wrong?"

"I am fighting with Taylor right now because she is a self-righteous bitch. I'm perfectly fine." Gabriella said in her defense as she let go of her mom.

"That's what your aunt Natalie said before she jumped off a bridge three years ago."

"I am not Natalie. She was really sick. I'm not her."

"I hope not." Maria said in a barely audible whisper.

"I have to go mom. I am supposed to meet Ryan for lunch in 30 minutes." It was a lie, but Gabriella couldn't spend any more time with her mother today.

"That's fine. I'll pick you up at the hotel around seven tomorrow so you can help with everything." Maria said as Gabriella went to make her purchase.

* * *

Taylor was having a good morning. She was happy she only had to spend a few minutes with Gabriella this morning. She was also happy because she kept Gabriella from playing her game with Ryan. Gabriella could not even start the flirting routine because Taylor made sure that she was the only one touching Ryan this morning.

Taylor tried not to think about kissing Ryan last night. Taylor also tried not to think about how good it felt to wake up with him this morning. She definitely didn't think about the fact that she was holding Ryan's hand under the table all through breakfast. She briefly wondered if she was in denial like her now former boyfriend was when he started having feelings for Sharpay.

* * *

The spa was fabulous and very relaxing. The fact that Ryan said no when Gabriella asked to join them made it even better. Taylor was sure she could not relax with Gabriella at the spa.

The best part was that Ryan arranged to stay with her almost the entire time. She had no idea how he managed to pull that off. Ryan was probably the only person she felt comfortable with seeing her covered with green mud and wearing a towel.

She was currently in the chocolate body wrap. Whoever came up with the idea for chocolate beauty treatment should be rewarded greatly.

"I bet you taste good." Ryan said from beside her. For some reason the very naughty thought of Ryan running his tongue across her naked body entered her mind

"If you're a good boyfriend she may let you find out tonight. I believe your time is almost up." Sharon the spa worker said as she prepared for Taylor to leave.

"He is not my…" Taylor almost corrected her, but just couldn't do it for some reason. Taylor actually like the idea of someone thinking Ryan was her boyfriend.

"So what's next?" Taylor asked Ryan and Sharon.

"This is your last treatment here." Sharon said to Taylor.

"I thought we were spending the whole day here? " Taylor asked Ryan in surprise.

"Only in the morning, we have something else to do this afternoon. We will be doing the traditional post breakup makeover. You haven't had your yet. Even my sister completely changed her look after the Zeke break up."

"Zeke cheated on your sister by sleeping with some trashy whore for months because Sharpay wouldn't put out. She needed the makeover. My boyfriend just fell in love with someone else."

"He also made out with her a lot before he actually broke up with you and accidentally made an almost sex tape that ended up on You Tube." Taylor almost told Ryan that Gabriella posted that taped to the Internet, but she didn't want to kill the relaxing mood of the day.

"I think that's worse." Sharon said from behind her."

"Actually I don't think it is. Ryan your sister was extremely drunk and possibly stone because somebody spiked her drink when that tape was accidentally made. We both know that if Zeke had a half-naked Sharpay on top of him like that, your sister would not have fallen asleep alone that night. At least my ex boyfriend respects me as a human being to actually tell me that he fell in love with someone else." Taylor said to everyone in the room

"Was this before or after you saw video footage of Chad kissing my sister?"

"After, although you can stop the snide comments. If you remember correctly, you were the one who told everybody that Chad and Sharpay were already dating. You're brilliant lie gave Chad the idea to "pretend" to date your sister to keep Penelope from groping him. Unfortunately, for us all your sister is a method actor and decided that making out with my boyfriend was the best way to fool Penelope."

"This is another reason why you need the post breakup makeover."

"Find you win. You can't argue with an Evans can you?" Taylor said in acquiescence.

"We always get what we want one way or another."

"I know. So are we doing makeup today or are we gonna start on shopping?"

"I thought we start with the salon, then a little shopping before dinner tonight."

"I am completely at your disposal for the rest of the day as soon as I get out of the chocolate wrap."

* * *

For lunch they went to a little cafe that served the best sandwiches. She was currently eating a Mediterranean with Pesto, eggplant, and feta cheese. Unfortunately, the FMG crash the lunch. Ryan being the good person he was Invited Gabriella to join them. If Gabriella tried to put her hand on Ryan's thigh one more time Taylor was going to throw a glass of ice water on her.

"How was shopping with your mother this morning?" Taylor asked Gabriella trying to make polite conversation. For the sake of Ryan, she was going to try to avoid the arguments of yesterday. If things get really bad, she could always send snide text messages to Sharpay. Taylor wondered how things were going with Chad's mom.

"It was okay. We went to Macy's. I got this adorable new top at half price. This afternoon I am going to the New Salon for the traditional post breakup makeover." Taylor tried to keep herself from laughing.

"It's only a post break up makeover when you accept that the relationship is completely over. I don't think you're quite there yet Gabriella. You still believe that you and Troy will get back together. Troy's moved on. He doesn't love you anymore." The words came out much crueler than Taylor intended. She really just wanted Gabriella to let go. Instead, Gabriella ended up running from the table again.

They spent the next 30 minutes trying to talk a crying Gabriella out of the bathroom. The only thing that worked was the promise of chocolate chili cheesecake and letting Gabriella come with them this afternoon.

Taylor didn't remember Gabriella's moods being this sporadic. One minute she's happy, the next she's crying. At least she is not throwing things at the moment. Taylor was starting to get a little scared.

Going to the salon along with Gabriella wasn't so bad. They were getting completely different things done, so she didn't see Gabriella once during the afternoon. Taylor decided to get extensions and Gabriella was currently in another room getting highlights.

After Ryan had his roots touched up, he was sitting next to Taylor talking about his classes for next semester. Taylor didn't know if she could take a class schedule that was so physically demanding. Although Taylor did have to admit that all that dancing has done wonderful things for Ryan's body. Not that she was looking at his body this afternoon when he was lying practically naked on the massage table. Now Taylor McKessie would never do such a thing to a friend even though she was not having very just friend feelings.

* * *

Ryan absolutely hated going to the salon with Sharpay. At least he hated being with the high school version of his sister. She always made him go anyway. Things were different with Taylor. They spent most of the afternoon talking about all sorts of things that including the various schools that Taylor was looking at for next year.

After being kicked out of the last part of the makeover, he was now sitting in the waiting room reading a three-month-old issue of _People_ magazine. Then he saw Taylor for the first time. He couldn't breathe.

He always thought she was beautiful. When he first saw her as a freshman he had a crush on her. Because of the stupid status quo he did not even bother talking to her until junior year. By that time, she was already with Chad, the supposed dumb jock. It turn out Chad's stupid jock act was the greatest performance in East High history considering Chad had an IQ of over 140.

Eventually Ryan gave up on his crush on Taylor and started dating Kelsey. He really did love Kelsey. Now that Kelsey was gone and Taylor was free maybe there was a chance.

Looking at Taylor now, she looked absolutely beautiful. He was completely speechless. She went with long layered extensions. It was a very different from her normal look. However, he loved it.

"I take it by your lack of speech that you like the new look. I thought about going with something more natural, but I don't have the energy right now. I always wanted to have really long hair."

"You look wonderful." Ryan said as he walked over to her and attempted to kiss her on the cheek. He accidentally moved a little too much and kissed her on the lips again. It really was an accident.

* * *

As Gabriella watched Taylor and Ryan interact with each other at lunch and at the salon she realized she didn't have a chance. Even if they could not see what was going on, it was obvious to her. The moment that completely pushed her out of denial was when she saw them kiss at the salon. He tried to play it off as an accident, Gabriella knew better. You don't accidentally kissed somebody like that.

As they walked into a high fashion boutique Gabriella realize that her last chance of getting back with Troy was vanishing quickly. Gabriella felt like crying in the middle of the store. Once she was safely inside the dressing room Gabriella called Mercedes in a crying panic.

"This isn't working. I think he actually likes Taylor." Gabriella told her friend in hysterics.

"If a hot girl comes on to any guy who is heterosexual, he is going to be attracted to her. It is just lust Gabriella. You have nothing to worry about. The plan will work." Mercedes said to reassure Gabriella.

"I don't know if I want to do this anymore." Gabriella admitted in a near whisper.

"So you're just going to give up?" Mercedes said in anger.

"I don't know," Gabriella said as she ended the call.

Taylor now noticed a distinct difference in Gabriella's behavior after the salon. She was quiet. Taylor was sure Gabriella was crying in the dressing room at the last store. Maybe Gabriella was starting to accept that Troy was not coming back. She almost felt sorry for Gabriella until she received a call from the boy in question.

One of Troy's teammates at Berkeley is dating one of Gabriellas sorority sisters at Stanford. Madison the sorority sister overheard a very interesting conversation between Gabriella and her roommate Mercedes. Mercedes convinced Gabriella that the only way to get Troy back was to make Troy jealous. Apparently, Gabriella decided that Ryan was the best candidate to do this. The twist was Mercedes actually has a crush on Troy and was trying to breakup Troy and Gabriella all along. Troy's teammate called him about 20 minutes ago to tell him everything going on.

"You're telling me that your ex girlfriend is purposely hitting on Ryan to make you jealous. Is she crazy, delusional, or just desperate?" Taylor didn't know whether to be mad at Gabriella or worried about her irrational behavior. High school Gabriella would never do something like this.

"I'm not sure. I'm personally going with crazy. I've tried to tell her several times that a romantic relationship between us wouldn't work. She just doesn't get it. I'm starting to wonder if something's wrong with her."

"You mean other than her being evil. It may help if you told her that you are engaged to someone else. Kim already changed her last name."

"I could make out in front of her with Kim and I don't think she would get it at this point. I'm starting to wonder if this goes beyond normal post breakup denial. Now I'm worried about Mercedes manipulating her. Mercedes reminds me of Penelope too much for my comfort. It's even possible that Mercedes convinced her to post the file to the Internet."

"Even though you guys are not together anymore I know you still care about her. If you didn't, you would not be protecting her from the wrath of Sharpay. At least you broke up with her before you got with Kim again." Taylor said with just a little bit of bitterness.

"I was in love with Kim the entire time I was with Gabriella. Maybe that's worse than cheating on her physically. Hey I got to go. Kim is upstairs waiting and Alex is with Grandfather Kim. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Because you'll be too busy with Kim tonight?"

"One can hope." That was the last thing Taylor heard before she ended the call.

* * *

Ryan was expecting shopping with Gabriella and Taylor to be 10 times worse than shopping with Sharpay. He was expecting them to fight at every store and get into a tug of war over a top. This little fantasy didn't make sense because they don't even wear the same size. As he discovered last night when he accidentally graze Taylor's breast she is more endowed then Gabriella. He was expecting absolute chaos, but that didn't happen.

After the salon, Gabriella just got really quiet. She really did not try on anything at the first store. At the second store Taylor actually had to push Gabriella inside the dressing room with something to try on.

By the time they walked into Lady Alexandria's custom lingerie Ryan didn't know what to expect. He was happy that Chad called him. Sharpay told Chad all about this little fiasco. Ryan spent the next half hour talking to Chad.

"You are with my ex girlfriend and Gabriella at a lingerie store? I think that is a new type of torture." Chad said as he laughed into the phone. "How does it feel to have two beautiful girls throwing themselves at you?"

"First of all Gabriella is the only one throwing herself at me and she stopped a couple of hours ago. Taylor is just a friend."

"As somebody who used that line for months I can honestly say that I do not believe you."

"We are not you and Sharpay."

"Yet you do denial just like your sister. Do you really think Taylor packed condoms and lingerie to pick up some stranger? Taylor doesn't do casual. It took two months before she even kissed me. It was another nine months before we did anything beyond that. We did not even talk about having sex until we were together for almost a year. We never got there because I was not ready."

"What do you mean?" Ryan really did not understand what Chad was saying.

"No wonder Kim got so frustrated with us." Ryan heard Chad say under his breath "You slept in the same bed as Taylor last night. She kissed you last night. You kissed her this afternoon."

"It was an accident." Ryan could hear Chad laughing on the other end of the line.

"Do you know how many times I _accidentally _kissed your sister when I was still dating Taylor? If you go online right now, you probably can find a video of one of those times. There's no such thing as accidental kissing. That's what you tell yourself when you're too afraid to admit you're falling in love with the last person you expected to."

"I'm not in love with Taylor. We are just friends. What are you implying?"

"It looks like denial is a genetic Evans family trait. We have to do this the hard way. Taylor purposely came to New York to lose her virginity to you." Ryan didn't say a word for at least a good minute.

"There's no way Taylor came here just to have sex with me." Ryan said as the shock finally wore off.

"If that is what you need to believe. Now since Jason is too young to do the overprotective brother thing, I will fill in for him. If you hurt my ex girlfriend or force her to do anything she's not ready for I will do things to you that your father threatened me with. This includes but not limited to suffocation by latex and castration."

"I understand perfectly well. What I want to know is who is going to beat you up for hurting Taylor when you cheated on her with my sister?"

"So far, the self flagellation has been working well. If you want, I will let you take a free shot when you come down for Christmas."

"Maybe I'll take you up on that offer. I got to go Gabriella is coming out."

Ryan dropped his phone in shock when he saw Gabriella come out of the dressing room wearing a black and red scrap of material that barely covered her important parts. Maybe Ryan spoke too soon when he said Gabriella stopped throwing herself at him.

* * *

By the time they enter the lingerie store Gabriella decided that she was going to give it one more try with Ryan. She wasn't going to do subtle this time. She would go for the direct approach. If this didn't work she would pack her bags and go to her mom's house for the rest of the holiday.

After putting on the most skimpy outfit in the entire store she walked up to Ryan and kissed him. When he pushed her away within seconds she knew that Ryan like Taylor as more than a friend. His words just confirmed it.

"Gabriella I just don't see you as more than a friend."

"I figure that out already." Gabriella said in a whisper. "It's okay. I already know that you have feelings for Taylor. "

"Taylor's just a friend." Ryan said to her.

"That lie won't work on me. When I tried to kiss you, Ryan you pushed me away. When you and Taylor 'accidentally' kissed this afternoon it lasted for 93 seconds. I'm pretty sure your hand went to her backside."

"She is just a friend." She started laughing at that.

"If that is what you need to tell yourself, go ahead. I'm going back to the hotel. I'll be gone by morning. Have fun with Taylor tonight. I'm going to spend the rest of the holiday at my mom's house." Gabriella said as she walked back into the dressing room.

* * *

Taylor was starting to pick up that nasty habit of eavesdropping on other people's conversations. She heard everything Ryan said to Chad. Taylor found it deeply ironic that her ex boyfriend understood her better now that they were no longer dating. Although in all honesty, they probably had a closer relationship now. They actually talk to each other, instead of just making out a lot.

She also heard Gabriella throw herself at Ryan. She was this close to pulling Gabriella off of him and telling Ryan all about her plan to use him to get back with Troy. By the time she had the door open, she saw Ryan pushed Gabriella away. From a crack in the door she watched the entire scene. Although Ryan didn't pick up on it, Taylor saw Gabriella leaving in tears. Part of her wanted to go to Gabriella.

"Is everything okay?" Taylor asked as she walked out and hugged Ryan. Taylor forgot that she was wearing a white lace article of merchandise.

"Everything's fine. Gabriella is not feeling well. She's going to go back to the hotel and we can go on to dinner. We'll leave as soon as you put back on your normal clothes." That's when Taylor realized that she was hugging Ryan dressed in a white lace negligee.

"Oh my god I forgot I was wearing this. I'm sorry." Taylor said as she ran back into the dressing room.

"It's okay. Although because you wore it out here I think that means you need to buy it."

"Yes but who would I wear it for?" Taylor was almost positive she heard Ryan say "me". Maybe that was just wishful thinking on her part.

* * *

At dinner, Ryan couldn't stop thinking about his conversation with Chad and the incident with Gabriella. There was no way Taylor was planning on sleeping with him. However, he thought back to what Gabriella said. He didn't push Taylor away. It was really an accidental kiss, why did it last so long? On the way back to the hotel, Ryan decided ask Taylor directly.

"Why did you kiss me?" That triggered Taylor's dear in headlights reaction.

"I - I mean – it was –I mean it was an accident." Her stammering told him more than her actual words.

"If I remember correctly when Chad used the same line on you a couple months ago, you responded to him by paraphrasing an Eminem song. I believe your exact words were 'What you slip, fell, and landed on her lips? There is no such thing as accidentally kissing someone.'"

"You use the same excuse this afternoon."

"I've never been known for thinking things through. Besides I am an Evans. We have a tendency to deny what's going on in front of us until it's too late. Denial is our default coping mechanism for life. If we pretend it's not happening, then we don't have to deal with it."

"That explains why your sister chased Troy around even though he was already in love with someone else and she was already falling for Chad. So tell me Ryan what's going on between me and you."

He didn't respond to her verbally. Instead his mouth was on hers. This kiss was different from there two accidental kisses. The pretense was gone. He could feel her respond to his kiss. It never felt like this with Kelsey. He was unable to describe what he was feeling right now. When they finally broke apart for air several minutes later, he let out a breathy whisper.

"Does this explain what's going on between you and me?"

"Perfectly," Taylor responded before kissing him once more. Due to the in prompted make out session in the back of the cab, Ryan ended up leaving a very generous tip.

When they made it back to the hotel room Ryan had Taylor pinned up against the front door kissing her again.

"One last question," Ryan mumbled against her neck

"What?" Taylor said in a near moan as his hands kept touching her.

"The stuff I found in your bag yesterday was for me. You were not planning to hook up with a stranger, were you?"

"I want to be with you." That was all he needed to know before he began to remove her blouse.

* * *

Gabriella was currently in her bedroom with a pillow over her head. For a four star hotel the walls were very thin. Or maybe Taylor was just really loud. She really didn't want to listen to Taylor loseing her virginity next door.

Gabriella made the mistake of opening the door when she heard Ryan and Taylor come in. On the bright side, she got a great video that she sent to Chad and Sharpay.

With Gabriella will never know is that Mr. Evans was the one who open the file when he was at the golf range with Chad and Sharpay. This resulted in Mr. Evans breaking Sharpay's cell phone by accidentally throwing it in the nearby lake."

Just when Gabriella was about to go out and throw something at the very loud lovebirds, she heard her phone rang. She thought it could have been Sharpay or Chad calling to yell at her about the video file. Instead, it was the last person she expected to ever hear from again.

"Hello Gabriella, it is Lucille. Troy's mom."

* * *

A/N: I have three family members with bipolar disorder. Not one of them behaves in the same way. Although bipolar disorder is usually diagnosed in young adults, it can be diagnosed as a teenager or child. One of my family member started showing symptoms at age 15.


	4. Now leaving Manhattan

Thank you to everyone who is reading or reviewing this story. There is only going to be one more chapter and an epilogue after this.

Chapter four: Now leaving Manhattan

**November 27, 2008 7:14 AM**

Ryan felt the early morning sun break through the curtains of the suite. At some point they actually made it to the bed. He felt Taylor's naked body pressed against him. His mind flashed back to the night before. He cannot stop thinking about every touch and every kiss. He never experienced anything like that before.

This was not his first time. A small part of him wished it was. His first time with Kelsey was as cliché as possible. He lost his virginity to Kelsey the night of the senior prom at one of the better hotels in town. The whole experience was awkward and he was pretty sure Kelsey faked her orgasm. Now he was positive when comparing it to Taylor's reaction last night. Every time after that with Kelsey was just as awkward.

Nothing felt awkward with Taylor. He didn't need to think about what he was doing. It just came naturally to him. He felt like he was supposed to be with her. He was brought out of his musings by the touch of Taylor's lips on his shoulder.

"What are you thinking about?" Taylor asked as she continued placing little kisses on his neck and shoulders.

"I was just thinking about making love to you last night. You were incredible." Ryan said as he turned around to face her.

"Do you think what we did was a mistake?" Ryan can see the fear in her eyes.

"Not at all," Ryan said as he gave her a very gentle kiss. "Do you think what we did was a mistake?"

"I don't regret what we did yesterday or earlier this morning. It's just that we're not in the same city right now…" Taylor never got to finish that sentence, because they were interrupted by the phone. "If this is your sister calling I'm going to hurt her." Taylor said as she got off the bed to pick up his phone.

"Hello," Ryan said into the phone.

"This is Gabriella's mom. Ryan Have you seen my daughter this morning? She was supposed to meet me in the lobby 15 minutes ago. I tried calling her phone but she is not answering."

"I thought she went home last night?" Ryan asked in confusion.

"I was unable to come get her last night. So she decided to stay until morning." Ryan knew Taylor could hear the entire conversation by the way her body went completely rigid. They completely forgot about Gabriella being there. Ryan knew that they were very loud last night.

"We'll go check her room. Maybe she just overslept. We will call you back in a few minutes." Ryan said trying to end the call as quickly as possible.

"Oh my god she heard everything last night." Taylor said as soon as he ended the call. "I thought you said she left." Taylor said in a panic.

"No, I told you in the cab that she was going to leave. It's not like I can think rationally when your mouth is on my neck." Ryan said as he threw on a pair of pants and a top.

"My best friend heard us having sex." Taylor said as she quickly pulled on a tank top and a pair shorts.

"Do you realize that you refer to Gabriella as your best friend?"

"It was an accident. I meant to say ex best friend."

"I am personally going with Freudian slip. I just find it strange that you can forgive Chad and Sharpay for cheating on you; however, you can't forgive Gabriella.

"I think the major difference is Chad and Sharpay are actually repented. Gabriella has no idea she did anything wrong."

"If that's what you need to believe Taylor. Let's just go apologize to Gabriella and send her off to her mom's house."

"Fine, but I am not even kissing you until she's out of this suite." Taylor said as she opened the door to the living room.

They quickly walked through the disaster area. In their passion, they managed to break the breakfast table. Mentally Ryan was calculating how big of a tip to leave to keep the discretion of the cleaning staff. His dad was going to be mad when he saw these charges on the credit card bill.

"Did you really have to rip my top off? I'd really like that top." Taylor said as she picked up their clothing.

"I promise I'll buy you a new one tomorrow."

"You broke the clasp on my bra." Taylor said as she held up the garment.

"Okay I am definitely buying you a new one. Maybe we can go back to Lady Alexandria's Custom lingerie. This time I can actually come in the dressing room with you."

"Aren't there rules against that sort of thing?"

"Not if you leave a big enough tip." Ryan said as he knocked gently on the door. After not receiving an answer he knocked louder and started calling out her name.

"As someone who has spent several sleepovers with Gabriella, I know she is not a sound sleeper. Was there any alcohol in the room?" They were both aware that Gabriella was a heavy drinker now. There was a 50/50 chance that Gabriella could be passed out in her room right now.

"Because I am underage, the hotel management wouldn't let me have any in the room. I brought some wine from my personal stash, but that is still in our bedroom. I am sure that Gabriella has a fake ID and was able to get something on her own." Ryan's voice was laced with bitterness as he voiced his suspicions.

"Let's just go inside and see if she's OK." Taylor said as she opened the door.

Inside they saw a bed that was practically untouched except for the two pillows lying on the ground. Gabriella's things were absent from the room. Ryan quickly walked over to the closet, but found nothing inside.

"Ryan, come over here. Gabriella left us a note." Ryan quickly walked over to his- whatever Taylor was to him. She was still his friend. No matter what happens, she would always be his friend. Now there was this other element to their relationship. Was Taylor his girlfriend now? He had no ideal and was too concerned about Gabriella to be asking questions right now.

As Ryan started reading the note, he became very worried. The situation was bad. They knew Gabriella was being irrational, but he didn't think she would do this.

"Ryan where is your phone?" Taylor said breaking the silence.

"In the bedroom,"

"Call Maria back and tell her to come up here." Taylor said as she left the room.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to go warn your sister that the FMG is coming to New Mexico."

**

* * *

**

November 26, 2008 8:56 PM

"I'm kind of surprised to hear from you." Gabriella said to Mrs. Bolton. Part of Gabriella was suspicious that Troy's mom was calling her. The other part hoped it was a sign that maybe he still loved her.

"I meant to call you after the break up to see how you were doing. I was just so busy that I was unable to do it sooner. How are things right now?" That was a very loaded question. Gabriella felt like crying underneath the bed. She would probably break out in hives because of her dust allergy.

"Pretty good," Gabriella said trying to sound as perky as possible under the circumstances.

"Nobody is good after a breakup." Mrs. Bolton said in reply.

"You're right, but it's okay." Gabriella said in a whisper.

"Are you spending Thanksgiving with your mom?"

"Yeah, it's going pretty well. I don't get to see her that much because she now lives in New York City."

"I really wish you could be here for Thanksgiving. I'm sure Troy misses you." Gabriella wondered if that was possible. Considering the last time she saw Troy he pretty much told her not to come back until she was ready to accept that they couldn't have a romantic relationship anymore.

Troy said he still wanted to be her friend. However, Gabriella was not sure how sincere that comment really was. Gabriella could not help but wonder if he really broke up with her for Kim. The relationship between her and Troy was going pretty good until he started talking to his ex girlfriend again.

"I sincerely doubt that. Considering he's probably back with the love of his life." Gabriella spat out the sentence in pure anger. This is the only way she was going to find out the truth.

"You do not have to worry about Kim. It's just a fling. Eventually he'll realize that you're the one he is supposed to be with." Gabriella didn't hear the last part of what she said. She only heard the part that confirmed that Troy was back with his ex girlfriend.

She has been replaced and she felt like crying. That wasn't quite right. Troy was back with the person who preceded her. Doesn't that mean that Gabriella was the replacement? Apparently Gabriella wasn't that great of a replacement for the great Kimberly Kim.

"I have an Idea. Gabriella because of my job I have tons of frequent flyer miles. Best of all I have no blackout dates. I'm sure I can get you on a flight to New Mexico tomorrow. You'll arrive just in time to help us decorate the tree."

Gabriella remembered what decorating the tree was like last year. Mrs. Bolton and Mr. Bolton got in a huge argument about decorations. Actually the argument was about Mr. Bolton's friend Ms. Sanchez formally Mrs. Danforth being there to decorate the tree. Troy's grandmother on his father's side, left before Gabriella even got there. She left after she got in a huge fight with Troy's mother. She didn't even come to Troy's graduation because she couldn't deal with his mom. Actually, Gabriella still has not met Troy's Grandma Bolton yet.

"I don't know if Troy would want me there."

Gabriella was not even sure she wanted to be there herself. She could not take a very dysfunctional Bolton Thanksgiving again. If she called Mercedes right now she would tell her to go. She would tell her to do anything possible to get Troy back.

Taylor would tell her to do the opposite. Who is she kidding, Ryan would tell her to do the opposite. Her mom would tell her to do the opposite. She knew what they were saying was right, Troy has moved on.

However, she really didn't want to watch Ryan and Taylor be all over each other. She also didn't want to suffer another round of interrogation by her mother. She needed to know where she stood with Troy. If He was already in love with someone else she needed to know. She needed to hear it from him and not everyone else.

"If you can find me a flight, I'll come." Gabriella said in acquiescence.

* * *

Taylor expected to spend the morning talking about her relationship with Ryan and maybe experiencing a repeat performance of last night. She really wanted a repeat performance of last night. Instead, she was trying to notify everybody in New Mexico that Gabriella was coming.

Taylor could not believe that Troy's mom deliberately invited Gabriella to Thanksgiving. Taylor had a feeling this was going to be bad for everybody involved, including Gabriella. It was going to be worse since nobody was picking up his or her phone.

"As soon as you get your bushy head from between Sharpay's legs, call me. The psycho one is headed straight for New Mexico." Taylor said as she ended the call to her ex boyfriend. She knew she shouldn't be that upset because it's 2 hours earlier there but she didn't get a response from Sharpay either.

"Do you have to make sex jokes about my sister and her boyfriend?" Ryan said in annoyance.

"It's one of my ex girlfriend privileges. I can either cry about what happened or make jokes. I just don't feel like ruining my makeup." Just then, they heard Maria Montez knock on the door.

"Gabriella is not here, is she?" Maria asked them as she made her way inside the suite.

"Let sit down," Taylor said as she pointed to the now slightly less messy couch.

"Just tell me what's going on with my daughter."

"She's not here." Ryan said solemnly.

"Do you know where she is?" Ms. Montez asked the two.

"She is most likely in the waiting area at LaGuardia or on a flight to New Mexico." Ryan said as he passed the letter to Gabriella's mother. Taylor stood there and watched the expression on Ms Montez's face go from worry too extreme anger.

"When I get my hands on that bitch I am going to kill her." For an odd moment, Taylor thought Ms Montez was referring to Gabriella until she continued. "She's using my daughter again just because she doesn't like Troy's girlfriend. What type of mother does this to her child? This is going to be a disaster even if Gabriella was still taking her medication. This is going to be Natalie all over again." Ms Montez was crying at this point.

"Who is using Gabriella and what medication are you referring to?" Ryan asked as Taylor was still trying to piece things together.

"Troy's mom for some reason hates Kim. That may have something to do with the $0.5 million that Kim's mom paid Lucy to break up Kim and Troy in high school. She succeeded two years ago and brought Gabriella in to keep Troy too distracted to find Kim and his son. You can't fight true love. They found each other again anyway. Now my daughter is the one suffering."

"I thought you transferred to New Mexico because of your job?" Ryan asked in confusion.

"That is what I told Gabriella. She was having problems at her old school. She had a boyfriend that I absolutely hated. He was talking her into doing things that she was just too young for. The doctors where we lived couldn't get Gabriella's medication correct. I was telling my college friend Lucy about what was going on with my daughter when she suggested that I moved to Albuquerque. She said that maybe a different environment would help Gabriella. The bonus factor was there was a doctor in the area that specialized in bipolar disorder. I didn't know that Lucy was planning on using my daughter."

"Why would a bipolar specialize be a reason to move to Albuquerque?" Taylor asked still not quite putting things together.

"She never told you?" That's when everything started to peace itself together in Taylor's mind.

"You say she is not taking her medication?" Ryan asked Gabriella's mom as he grabbed Taylor's hand to lend her his support.

"I think so. Her Moods have been very erratic lately. I keep getting reports of her doing things at school like locking herself in her dorm room for days or binge drinking at an endless string of parties."

"Can this strange behavior include posting a sex tape to the Internet and not realizing that it was wrong?" Why did she not notice this strange behavior earlier? They all knew Gabriella was acting out of character and they didn't do anything to help.

"She may not understand the consequences of her actions. Bipolar disorder is very unpredictable. Behaviors can change from one episode to the next. I am worried about her going to Albuquerque right now. Under normal circumstances finding out your ex boyfriend is engaged and has a two year old child could send somebody over the edge. My daughters already at the edge and holding on by one finger, anything could send her over."

"Ryan, can you get us three tickets to Albuquerque for today?" Taylor asked him.

"Probably, it's going to be expensive. However, since I was a good boy this year I get to spend the weekend with the black card."

"Good because we are going to an intervention."

* * *

Last night going to Albuquerque seem like a good idea. Now Gabriella was not so sure. Was she really going to fly halfway across the country for a person who was in love with someone else? She kept crying the entire time. The Flight attendants were convinced that she was going to a funeral. Maybe in a way she was.

On the second plane, she was sitting next to this older woman named Karen who was really nice to her. She was flying out to see her son and grandson in Albuquerque. They started talking about why Gabriella was flying halfway across the country. She told her all about the situation with Troy and Kim. Although she didn't give any names to protect the guilty.

"Do you realize that his mom is using you?" Karen asked to Gabriella in a very stern voice.

"I doubt she would do that. She actually likes me." Gabriella said to the older woman.

"That may be the problem. She actually likes you, but not the girl that he's in love with. She's using you to manipulate his feelings. Probably in her mind, she thinks that if he sees you again he will leave the other girl. I can understand. I absolutely hate my daughter in law. If I had my way, I would have set him up with his best friend Caroline years ago."

"Why do you hate your daughter in law?"

"You mean other than the fact I'm almost positive she is cheating on my son. They were not a good match. Before they got married, they never talked about what they wanted from their marriage. She wanted a career and felt that children would get in the way. He wanted a huge family. He loves children, which is why he is a high school teacher. The one child they had was an accident and after that she had the female sterilization procedure performed without telling my son." At this point Karen was practically yelling.

"Okay, I understand why you don't like her. Did you ever talk to your son about this?"

"I tried to tell him years ago that his wife was nothing but trouble. He never listened to me. Before they were married, he was to in love to see what was really going on. Young love makes fools of us all. I feel that love is making a fool of you. Do you really think seeing you again will make him change his mind?"

"No," Gabriella said in a barely audible whisper. It was the first time she admitted to herself that things were truly over with her and Troy.

"There isn't anything his mother is going to do to change his mind. Gabriella she is using you. In this situation you're the only one who's going to get hurt."

"I really thought that he loved me. When we were together he did all these great things for me. Now everyone keeps telling me he's with Kim. She is supposedly the one that got away. " Gabriella said as she started to cry again. Karen quickly gave Gabriella another tissue.

"I know losing your first love can be difficult. However, did you ever think that maybe this really isn't love? Maybe it's just high school infatuation? You told me yourself, that you knew nothing about his previous relationship. That tells me that the two of you really didn't talk to each other. I have a feeling that there are a lot of things you kept from him."

Gabriella knew that Karen was right. There was a laundry list of things she never told Troy. This included the real reason why she left Lava Springs that summer and where she went after school on Wednesdays.

"You're right about the last point. There are a lot of things that we never talked about. Then there's the fact I broke up with him last summer because I couldn't deal with a long distance relationship. I never told him that there were other things going on. I was sure that he loves me because he drove to Stanford just to keep me from breaking up with him. We never really talked about why I broke up with him in the first place. Despite everything I know that I love him."

"How do you love him? Is this the type of love that's based on sex and good looks? That love fades away with time. Do you love him because you need him or do you need him because you love him? Is what you feel just infatuation or lust? If you couldn't handle doing a long distance relationship, maybe you don't love him." Karen's questions felt like a slap in the face to Gabriella. She didn't want to answer them, because if she did she may need to reevaluate her entire relationship with Troy.

"Of course I love him and I know he loves me because he went to school at Berkeley just so he could be near me. The problem is now he has Kim. Now that he has his precious Kim back he doesn't want me." Gabriella spat out the name with as much vehemence and hatred as possible.

Gabriella blamed Kim for this entire fiasco. Gabriella was already planning on decking the girl as soon as she got to New Mexico. The thought of punching Kim and pulling all of her hair out made Gabriella stopped crying.

"Did you ever think he could be just going for the school? You did mention he is receiving a full scholarship. My grandson goes to Berkeley as well. He's a drama major and from what he told me I know the school is pretty good. I know most young girls want to see what he did as some grand romantic gesture, but maybe he went to Berkeley for him not you." Gabriella chose not to listen to the woman's words. She needed to hold onto the illusion that Troy went to Berkeley just for her. It was the only thing keeping her from crying again.

"My ex Troy is also a drama major. Maybe they know each other?"

"Your former boyfriends name is Troy? Gabriella noticed a strange expression on the woman's face."

"His name is Troy Bolton. By the way I am Gabriella Montez." Gabriella said finally introducing herself completely to Karen.

"What high school did you and your boyfriend go to in Albuquerque?"

"We went to high school at East High where Troy was the captain of the basketball team. What high school does your grandson go to?"

"He went to East High as well." Karen said quietly.

"Maybe I know him?" Gabriella asked with a smile.

"I'm sure you do, just not as well as you think." Karen said cryptically as visions of murdering her daughter in law danced in her head. This whole conversation gave her another reason to hate Lucy. Karen was very happy that she forgot to tell Gabriella her last name is Bolton. She would be yelling at her grandson for not telling him about this Kim girl. Of course Gabriella knew none of this.

* * *

Ryan couldn't believe Taylor talked him into flying halfway across the country on the busiest travel day of the year. It probably had something to do with where Taylor strategically placed her hand. The fastest way to get to Albuquerque was to catch a flight from New Jersey. From her letter Gabriella was supposed to arrive at Albuquerque around 1:45 PM local time. Because he, Taylor and Gabriella's mother were taking a much shorter flight from Newark, they should arrive in New Mexico around 2:20 local time.

During the entire ride to Newark, they were trying to call his sister and her boyfriend to let them know they were coming. For some reason they still weren't picking up. This led to several nasty messages being left by Taylor on their voicemail.

Unknown to Ryan and Taylor, Chad and Sharpay cell phones were destroyed in unrelated accidents the night before. If Ryan thought to call the land line at his parents' house or even his father cell this entire mess could have been prevented. Ryan and Taylor were too busy being mad at Chad and Sharpay for not picking up their phones to realize that something else was going on. They also never thought to warn Troy that his mother was bringing his ex girlfriend to break up his relationship with his current girlfriend. They never even considered calling Coach Bolton to let him know his wife was going to turn his family dinner into a bloodbath.

2 hours later after navigating the chaos of the airport, they were up in the sky making their way to New Mexico. Taylor currently had her head lying in his lap.

"Am I a bad friend?" Taylor asked him.

"No, you're the best friend I ever had." Ryan said as he leaned down and gave her a tiny kiss on the lips.

"I met with Gabriella. I didn't know she was unwell. I was so preoccupied with my own problems that I didn't see what was going on. We all assumed she was just evil. We never tried to find a reason for why she was acting differently. In addition, are you and me still friends after everything that happened last night?

"You didn't know what was going on with Gabriella. How could you have helped her? She didn't tell you what was going on. You made a rational decision based on the information you had on hand. No one in your situation could have done anything differently." Ryan reassured her as he ran his hands through her hair.

"What about you and me?"

"No matter what Taylor, we're still friends." He said kissing her on the forehead.

"What are we now?"

"What do you want us to be?" It's never good when you answer that question with a question.

"I don't really know. I just don't want to try a long distance relationship again. It didn't work out that well last time. I don't want to come visit you in NYC, just to find you riding the new girl."

"I doubt that is going to happen."

"You say that now, but what about in six months. I didn't think I would see video footage of my boyfriend sticking his tongue down your sister's throat, but I did.

"I'm not Chad. Don't blame me for what he did to you." Ryan is going to take Chad up on his free punch as soon as he gets to New Mexico.

"I'm not blaming you. It's just you're hot and you're 18. At this stage we think more with hormones than anything else. Let's be honest I could just as easily be the one who cheated on Chad. My relationship with Chad didn't exactly have a very strong foundation at the time. Chad and I talk to each other more now after we broke up then when we were actually dating."

"Do you think last night was just hormones?"

"Last night wasn't just sex. You are my best friend. I don't want that to change. At the same time, I have the sudden urge to drag you in the back and join the mile high club. I'm not sure what that makes us."

"For now let's just be Friends with make out privileges?"

"I can do that," Taylor said as she lay back down on his lap.

* * *

The car ride to the Bolton house seemed to last forever. Maybe that was because Troy's mom was 30 minutes late to pick her up from the airport. By miracle of miracles her flight was actually on time. Karen offered to share a cab with her but Gabriella turned her down.

Then again maybe the car ride seemed to last forever because all Lucy talked about was _Kim_. Lucy absolutely hated Kim. Gabriella hated Kim as well, but mostly because the wicked voice inside her mind told her that Troy actually loved Kim.

Gabriella kept thinking about her conversation with Karen. She was starting to agree with Karen that Lucy was using her. Lucy brought her here as a tool to break up Troy and his new girlfriend. Gabriella hated being used.

* * *

They were running through the airport trying to get a cab. From the moment they got off the plane Taylor started calling everyone she could think of. She even tried Amanda and couldn't get a hold of her. They were in the middle of an emergency and nobody was picking up their cell phones.

So desperate Taylor actually called the landline at The Bolton House and ended up speaking to Troy's five-year-old cousin. Taylor doubted Jordan would pass the message on to Troy. At least Taylor found out that Lucy left the house a little less than an hour ago to pick up a relative at the Airport. Due to Ryan's genius at picking out flights, they managed to catch up with Gabriella.

Gabriella's mom was currently on the phone with Gabriella's former doctor to see if she would meet them at the Bolton house. On the plane, they decided the best course of action was to get Gabriella in the hospital to be put back on her medication. Maybe if they can convince her something is seriously wrong she would go willingly.

So preoccupied with the Gabriella situation and her very confusing feelings about Ryan she practically missed seeing Ryan's dad get out the car at the Airport.

"Dad what are you doing here?" Ryan asked his father in complete surprise.

"I was flying out to surprise you. I guess that's not necessary since you and your girlfriend decided to come here." She and Ryan were too shocked by his statement to deny it.

"How did you know?" Taylor asked as she regained her composure.

"I receive the most interesting video file yesterday. Actually it was Sharpay that receive the video file of you and my son making good use of your hotel room. I just accidentally opened the file. Sharpay's cell phone is currently at the bottom of the lake at Lava Springs." At least they now know why Sharpay was not answering her phone.

"That evil little witch. We fly halfway across the country to keep her from freaking out over the Kim thing and this is what she does. You know what; she can have her nervous breakdown without me." Taylor said this as she walked away from the other three. Instantly she felt Ryan hand on her shoulder trying to get her to stop.

"Taylor don't be like that. This is not all about Gabriella. All of our friends are involved in this. What if Gabriella decides to attack Alex instead of a plasma television." She knew Ryan had a very valid point.

"You are never going to forget about that are you?" Taylor asked coming out of her anger.

"No one is ever going to forget about that." Ryan said as he grabbed her hand.

"I'm the one who had to pay to replace it." Taylor heard Mr. Evans mumbled under his breath.

"Fine let's go stop the FMG from killing anybody."

"What does FMG stand for?" Ms. Montez asked as they got into the cab. Ryan and Taylor decided not to tell Gabriella's mother what the F in FMG stood for.

* * *

When they arrived Gabriella asked herself why she was here. Why was she trying to hold on to somebody who has obviously moved on? Did she come here to get Troy back or to let go of him once and for all. Was she really going to let Lucy use her to hurt Troy? Despite everything Gabriella still cared about him.

She couldn't bring herself to walk into the house and see the happy couple. Instead she walked to the back of the house passed some of the aunts and uncles standing outside mingling. They all remember her from last Thanksgiving and graduation. Most of them still thought she was Troy's girlfriend. She just didn't have the emotional energy to correct them. She was sure when they saw Troy making out with his new girlfriend they would realize that Gabriella was no longer the object of Troy's affections.

Gabriella found herself climbing the steps to the tree house. Nine months ago, they were up here together holding hands and making promises. Now she was alone and those promises fell apart. As Gabriella went to sit down on the old sleeping bag, she remembered what Taylor told her about Troy sleeping with Kim in the tree house. Gabriella had the sudden urge to spray everything down with Lysol.

Just as Gabriella was about to go downstairs and face Troy she saw him coming out of the house with a beautiful little boy that looked exactly like him. Behind him was an Asian girl that also looked like the child Troy was holding. When the girl quickly kissed Troy on the mound, Gabriella knew the girl was Kim. The scene made Gabriella want to cry.

"Are you okay?" Kim asked Troy as they went to sit underneath the tree house.

"You just survived being yelled at by my aunt Julia. I should be asking you that question." Troy said as he put his arm around Kim.

"Maybe accidentally showing my new driver's license was a really bad way for your family to find out my new last name was Bolton." They were married. She and Troy have only been broken up for a month and he was already married to someone else. Gabriella was going to kill him. Kim's next sentence stopped her from attacking Troy, "I just have to deal with telling your family about us and Alex. You're the one who has to deal with the divorce and the whole Caroline situation."

"I don't want to talk about my dad's new girlfriend, especially when he is still technically married. Considering what mom did to dad and us, I never want to see her again. I'm furious about what she did to Gabriella. How could she use Gabriella like that? Even though you and I are back together I still care about her. I don't want to see her hurt like this."

What Troy said made her feel a little bit better. Gabriella would really like to know what Lucy did involving her. So caught up in her musings she didn't see Karen from the plane approach Kim and Troy. What was Karen doing their?

"Kim, do you mind if I talk to my grandson for a little while? We didn't get to finish our conversation from earlier." Troy was Karen's grandson.

"I will go back inside and let your hypocritical mom yell at me again. I personally can't wait to she finds out about what her husband or rather who her husband did last night. Do you want me to take Alex back inside with me?"

"I know that being a dad is new for me, but I can take care of Alex for a few minutes. Kim he is my son too." Gabriella was in too much shocked to hear the next few minutes of conversation. Not only was Troy already married to someone else they have a child together. A child that Troy never told her about.

As Gabriella started to come out of her shock she heard Troy tell his grandmother everything from the beginning of his relationship with Kim to the present. Gabriella heard all about Kim and Troy being in love with him at 15. She heard all about Troy's mom purposely tried to break them up. She heard about Kim's mom paying her half a million to do so. She heard all about Kim being too afraid to tell Troy about the pregnancy. She couldn't be mad at Troy for not telling her about Alex because he only found out a few weeks ago.

The thing that truly sent Gabriella in a true rage was when they started talking about Lucy. Lucy purposely used her to keep Troy and Kim apart. Lucy was even responsible for Gabriella moving to Albuquerque in the first place. It turns out that her chance meeting with Troy during karaoke at the ski lodge was completely engineered by Lucy.

Before she even knew what she was doing Gabriella was down the stairs of the tree house. She didn't even register Troy's gasp a surprise. She was too busy running straight for the one woman she hated more than anybody else. Before anybody could stop her, the dark hair woman that destroyed her life was out on the floor. Blood was dripping from her nose and the cookies she was holding were scattered to the floor.

"How could you do that to your own son? How could you do that to me? I really loved him and you used me." Gabriella was screaming at Lucy as her tears streamed down her face. She was now shaking with anger and pain. Within seconds, Gabriella collapsed to the floor in rage and sorrow.

* * *

Taylor and Ryan quickly ran from the cab to keep Gabriella from completely flipping out. So concerned with everything going on Taylor didn't even have time to questioned her brother's presence at the Bolton house.

As Taylor saw the bloody Mrs. Bolton lying on the floor, she realized they were too late. Taylor ran to a crying Gabriella who was being held by Troy and a woman who was probably Troy's grandmother. Taylor quickly pulled Gabriella into a hug.

So caught up in trying to comfort Gabriella, Taylor didn't hear the verbal fight going on between Troy's mom and Gabriella's mom. Taylor didn't turn around until she heard Ms. Montez slammed Mrs. Bolton up against the wall. It took six cops and a train psychiatrist to break up the fight.


	5. Things to do After Your World Ends

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**Chapter Five: Things to do After Your World Ends**

If things kept going like this every time she set foot in Albuquerque, Taylor was never going to come home again. Every time she comes back here, her world falls apart. This morning she was too worried about Gabriella and busy with the whole Ryan situation to remember why she was avoiding Albuquerque on this day in the first place.

Last time she was here, she took a baseball bat to Chad and Sharpay's dorm rooms when she found out that the two had gotten together behind her back. She tried to hit her little brother when he pointed out the very inconvenient truth that Chad fell in love with Sharpay in her absence.

As Taylor surveyed the chaos of the Bolton house, she wondered what really separated her actions from those of Gabriella. The police were still trying to get the situation under control. If it wasn't for Sharpay stopping her she would have did to her brother what Gabriella did to Mrs. Bolton. She was very grateful to Sharpay for stopping her. When she found out about Chad she snapped just like Gabriella did.

Maybe the difference between her and Gabriella was she knew what she was doing was wrong. After the dust had settled Taylor realized what was going on. She apologized to everyone, especially her brother. Her brother obviously forgave her because he couldn't stop hugging her. She wasn't this crying mess that was holding onto her and Troy for dear life like Gabriella was.

After Ms. Montez and the soon to be former Mrs. Bolton were hauled off by the police, she and Troy convinced the hysterical Gabriella to go to the hospital. The Troy Bolton smiled can convince any girl to do just about anything. Alex had practically the same effect at nearly age two. That boy was definitely going to be a heartbreaker even if he was a little brat now .

She and Troy went with Gabriella to the Medical center to get her settled in. Kim arrange for Vanessa to go with them in case there were any problems. At the same time, Kim and Chad's mom went to get Gabriella's mother out of jail.

By surprisingly unanimous agreement, everyone felt that Lucy should be left in jail overnight. Even Troy's grandma on his mom's side agreed after Jack showed her the infamous letter. The rest of the family was too busy with Alex or talking to the police to actually care.

On the ride home from the hospital 3 hours later Taylor's perfect world ended. Maybe it just finished its slow descent into chaos. She wasn't sure at this point. 15 minutes ago she found out why the woman driving her to the Evans mansion looks so much like her. Why did secrets come out at the worst possible time?

Nothing has been spoken in the car for the last 15 minutes. She wished Troy came back with her. Instead he decided to wait at the hospital for Maria. The silence in the car was painful.

"Taylor say something?" Aunt Vanessa prompted as they finally arrived at the Evans mansion. Aunt Vanessa was not really right was it. Vanessa was not her aunt. She never was. Vanessa Kim was her mother. Now Taylor knew why her brother kept crying and hugging her today.

Kim figured out the big family secret and accidentally let it slip at Thanksgiving dinner earlier today. Taylor was adopted. She was the daughter that Vanessa gave up 19 years ago. Taylor's perfect reality was over.

"What am I supposed to say? Nothing in my life is the way it was 24 hours ago. Everything was fine. Gabriella was evil. Ryan was my best friend. I had two great parents who love me. I had a brother who I loved even though he drove me crazy. Now everything is completely fucked up." Taylor fumbled with her seatbelt as she tried to get out of the car as quickly as possible.

"I left Gabriella to drown because I was so caught up in my own life. I was so lost at Yale that I lost my friendship with her. My entire childhood was a complete lie. You and the McKessie's lie to me for 19 years. Can I still call them mom and dad now? Add that to the fact that I may have lost my best friend because I slept with him last night. So tell me mom, what do I do the day after my world ends?" With that, Taylor ran out of the car and into the Evans mansion.

Like everything else today her perfect dramatic exit was ruined by her hill breaking on the second step. Taylor through the shoe at the car. Once inside the mansion she began to look for Ryan. She needed him right now. She was fighting the urge to throw something else.

She passed by the living room where her brother was playing Wii with Amanda, Sharpay's roommate who they suckered into coming to this dysfunctional weekend. She didn't want to interrupt them. At least Jason wasn't crying anymore. The news must have been just as shocking for him. At age 12, things are a lot harder to deal with than at 19.

Taylor continued to walk through the mansion trying to remember where Ryan's bedroom was. She can only remember coming here maybe five times during the last year. She knew his room was somewhere on the second floor. With the amount of rooms this mausoleum masquerading as a home has, it could take her forever to find the room.

Finally, she came to a room decorated in rich blues with framed vintage Broadway posters on the wall. This must be Ryan's room. It was the only one that actually looked like someone could live there. Everything else here had this museum like perfection.

She quickly crawled onto the big bed and promptly began to cry. This was the first moment since this day began that she had time to process the emotions of the day. How did her life get to this point? The posters on the wall did not answer her.

15 minutes later, she felt two arms surrounding her. It wasn't Ryan, but for the moment it could work. Besides, he owed her something.

* * *

Considering the way his father found out about him and Taylor he was expecting the ultimate lecture as soon as things calm down. He can no longer make jokes about the almost sex tape with his sister because of this. He wished he could be listening to that lecture instead of the one currently he was going through. The conversation that he had with his father, sister, and his soon to be brother in law was 1000 times more painful.

Even though his sister hid her engagement ring, the moment they saw the very rumpled pair it was obvious what was going on. It probably did not help that Chad and his sister missed the entire Lucy fiasco because they were upstairs together. Chad was getting punched by him by the end of the evening.

Ryan stood there in his father study listening to the illusion of his happy family be pulled apart piece by piece. Not that it was ever really a happy family. He was well aware that the perfection was an illusion. They were not a close family. There were no Rockwell moments in this family. They didn't tell each other things. Keeping up appearances was a skill inherited at birth in this family. It came in handy this last month when he had to field questions about the Kelsey situation. Yet Ryan was still completely unaware of how truly screwed up his family really was until now.

He should have known something was up when his father said he was coming to surprise him in New York. His father was too busy with his career to actually make time to spend with his children. Ryan should've been tipped off by the fact his father started calling him twice a week. He talked to his sister regularly, but not his father.

After 22 years of marriage, his parents were getting a divorce. That didn't surprise him that much. In public, his parents always put on this happy show. He remembered looking down from the stage at the senior musical to see his dad holding his mom. In Ryan's mind, he knew it was another performance. The argument that occurred that night was proof enough.

He was not that shock to find out his mom was sleeping with someone else. Darby never really cared about anybody but Darby. Why would she care about their father? Finding out it was a member of Chad's family was slightly surprising.

What shocked him the most was what Darby did to his sister. Ryan saw all the bruises on Sharpay when they were little. He actually believed Darby when she said Sharpay fell down a lot. The truth was a lot uglier. From ages 5 to 11 the woman he used to refer to as mom used to hit Sharpay.

He knew of the psychological abuse, because he suffered it too. He would have love to be on the baseball team in high school, however, Darby wouldn't let him. She forced them to be in every production no matter what.

At a certain age he thought Sharpay took over that position. He realized recently that was just her way of protect him from Darby's wrath. If Sharpay scheduled the rehearsals they actually had time to do other things. Sharpay was the one who convinced their mom to let him do cheerleading senior year. He didn't realize any of this at the time.

When his sister described the details of her physical abuse at the hands of their mother, Chad and his father left the room. Ryan wished he could go with the two of them. After what happened with Gabriella today and all the Taylor confusion he couldn't deal with this.

"Ryan say something?" Sharpay said looking directly at her twin brother.

"What's there to say? I was in the room next to you for 18 years and I didn't know any of this. You tell me today of all days? You never did have the best timing. I have too much to deal with today to process this. Why didn't you tell me when she was hitting you?" Ryan asked his sister as tears started to form in his eyes.

"I don't know what you're dealing with because you don't tell me what's going on with you Ryan. Don't be all high and mighty because you kept a lot of secrets too. Darby told me that if I told anyone she would hurt you instead. I had to protect you. I didn't tell anybody. Kim was the only one who knew for the longest time. That's only because she found me one time after Darby hit me. Chad was the second person I told. That was less than a month ago. Chad got pissed off at dad and told him everything."

"Of course you tell your future husband first. Even though I'm your twin brother, he's always going to be more important." He hated the fact that Chad was slowly taking his place. "By the way you can stop hiding your engagement ring. Taylor already saw it." Ryan said in bitterness as he pulled away from her and ran out of the house.

"Ryan don't be like that." Sharpay yelled from the front porch.

"I can do whatever I want today Sharpay." Ryan said as he jumped in his car and pulled away.

* * *

Maria Montez sat in a holding area at one of the jails in Albuquerque With The other women new had the misfortune of being arrested on a holiday. There was one woman in there who got in a fist fight over the last Turkey at Specialty Foods of Albuquerque. Another woman was there for hitting her husband with a baseball bat after she caught him cheating on her with some little British girl who was not legal yet.

Because it was a holiday, she would be stuck here until morning. She was starting to think maybe beating the hell out of Lucy was a bad idea. It was so much fun at the time. Now she was stuck in here while her baby girl was sick.

When an officer came to get her, she was shocked. She was even more surprised when she saw her old friend Caroline waiting for her with who she assumed was Troy's girlfriend. Why was she there?

"Okay exactly how did you manage to get me out on Thanksgiving?" Maria asked as they walked out of the building.

"The court system in Albuquerque is relatively small. If you work here as a lawyer long enough you can eventually figure out which judge you can call on Thanksgiving with a good sob story and actually get results. Judge Saunders has a son and daughter with bipolar disorder. She was the one to call to get you out. She completely understands the situation and allowed us to post bail." Caroline said as they walked to the car.

"She said she would have kick Lucy's ass in your situation. Any mom including myself would kill Lucy if she did that to their child. In my case it would have took 20 cops to get me away from the bitch. I still want to kick her ass for what she put Troy threw. I'm jealous of Gabriella because she actually hit the bitch. Even though Troy hates his mom right now, he still won't let me hit her. Stupid overprotective boyfriend. " Yes, the girl in question was Troy's girlfriend Kim. Why was Troy's new girlfriend getting her out of jail?

"We are here to take you to see Gabby." Caroline said to her.

"Don't lied to her Caroline. You came with me so you could tell Lucy that you slept with her soon to be ex husband last night. I have cell phone footage of the entire thing. That picture is going to be my new wallpaper." Kim said as she unlocked the car and pass the keys to Caroline.

"I definitely need to call you more often." Maria muttered to herself as she got in the backseat of the black BMW. What has been going on since she has been in New York? "Where is Gabriella?"

"She should be at the Albuquerque Medical Center by now." Caroline answered her. Maria has never been more relieved in her life to hear her daughter was in the hospital.

"The doctor was able to talk her into going into the hospital?" Maria asked.

"More like Taylor, Ryan, and Troy were able to talk her into going in. Troy told her they even though he still cared about her, he could not be around her until she got better for Alex's sake. For some reason that was enough to get her to go to the hospital." Kim's words confused Maria. She didn't understand why her daughter's ex boyfriend and his new girlfriend were helping her so much.

"Not that I'm not grateful that you helped me, because I really am. However, why are you and Troy helping me?"

"If my mom wasn't a heartless sociopath who enlisted Troy's mom's help in her devious scheme, none of this would have happened. Even though my mom is evil, my father brought me up to take care of my own messes. If nothing else, Troy still considers Gabriella a friend. Friends help each other when the world is falling apart." Maria and had no idea how to respond to that.

* * *

"Considering the day you had, I can understand you breaking down in tears in a strange room. However, why are you in Sharpay's room?" Chad asked her as she began to calm down a bit.

"I thought this was Ryan's room. Doesn't Sharpay have a minimum pink requirement? So many pink pixels per square in. This room has too much blue to be Sharpay's room." Taylor said with a tiny laugh.

"That was high school Sharpay. College Sharpay is more into blue, purple, and black." As Taylor learned last time College Sharpay was a completely different person than high school Sharpay.

"I'm starting to think high school Sharpay was the greatest performance of Sharpay's entire career at East High." Taylor mumbled under her breath.

"Neither one of us were our true selves in high school. Ditching the pink is one of the more obvious things. Besides there's no way I am living in a pink bedroom."

"Yes because this isn't Sharpay's room, this is your and Sharpay's room?" This triggered Chad's usual dear in headlights expression.

"I well -we are –Kind of- it's complicated." Chad stumbled through as he tried to avoid her question.

"Thank you for trying to spare my feelings this time." Taylor said sarcastically. "Don't be shy. You already told me that you and her spend the night together all the time. I already saw the engagement ring, you can go ahead and tell me how you proposed. Please tell me you did something better than giving her a box of cookies?" Taylor asked, reminding him of how he asked her to prom last year.

It seems surreal. In March, he was asking her to the prom. In November, he was asking Sharpay to marry him. How did life change so fast? 24 hours ago, Ryan was just a friend and she was the daughter of the McKessies. Now Ryan is her lover and she is the biological daughter of Vanessa Kim. She wished she could just go back to last year when Chad was her boyfriend, Ryan was her friend, and Gabriella was okay. Everything was simpler back then. However, was it really better?

"Actually she asked me." Taylor couldn't help but laugh at that. That was definitely classic high school Sharpay. She could never let anybody else be in charge. Maybe high school Sharpay and college Sharpay were not that different after all.

"Of course she did. Sharpay was too worried about you bundling the proposal and decided to do it herself." She said this with a smile. For some reason the fact that her ex boyfriend was marrying someone else didn't bother her as much as she thought it would.

"More like Sharpay was pissed off at her mother. She decided to take the opportunity to get back at Darby in the best way possible."

"So Darby basically hates you and you two are pretending to be engaged just to piss her off? Is this going to be like you two pretending to date just to piss off Penelope? Because if it is, you might as well just stop the pretense now. By the way the Penelope thing was your most stupid idea ever. If a witch like Penelope is hitting on you, Chad you do not pretend to have another girlfriend to scare her away." Taylor said this as she smacked him on the head. She was still a bit angry about the whole Penelope thing.

"I will admit that wasn't my best idea ever. The engagement is real. Sharpay's happiness is what Darby hates the most. Because you are now a member of this crazy family, you should know that Darby gets off on causing her children pain. Hopefully you will not have to spend much time with the bitch in question because Vince is divorcing the narcissistic one." Chad statement provided her with information overload. She wanted to ask about the divorce because she knew that would be difficult for Ryan to deal with. However, she decided to start somewhere else.

"Unlike you I am not exactly a full fledged member of the family yet. I am just Ryan's friend." Chad started laughing at that statement.

"Ryan told me about the condoms and the black lace lingerie. I also saw you holding his hand the entire time you were dealing with Gabby this afternoon. Don't use the just friends excuse on me. " Of course, her ex boyfriend could see what was going on.

"How could you know what is going on between me and Ryan? You were too busy being in Sharpay up in Troy's room to have any idea what was happening downstairs this afternoon."

"I was not having sex with Sharpay upstairs. We were downstairs before the cops got there. I will have you know I'm still a technical member of the V club." Chad said in false innocence with a wicked smile. She knew full well that Chad's membership in the club was very technical.

"At least one of us is." She really meant to say that to herself. Chad's open mouth expression told her that she spoke the words out loud.

"**You slept with Ryan last night."** Chad said it's so loud that Taylor was positive her little brother could hear it in the game room. If Jason was still her little brother. Things are so complicated right now. Before she could analyzed the situation Taylor placed a hand over Chad's mouth before he started screaming again.

"Did you have to say it so loudly? Yes, I slept with Ryan. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now I'm scared to death that I ruined my friendship with him. My best friend is currently in the psychiatric ward because Troy's mom is a evil selfish bitch. My entire childhood was a complete fabrication." Taylor was crying again at this point. She felt Chad's arms tightened around her.

"I kind of already knew about that." Chad said as he handed her a tissue from the nightstand.

"How did you find out I was adopted before I did?" Taylor asked in surprise.

"We found Jason crying in Sharpay's car this afternoon. He was so upset about it that he will not talk to your parents."

"Are they still my parents?" She asked with tears in her eyes.

"Of course they are. It's just DNA. Alexis has been a much better mother to you than Darby was to Sharpay. Mr. McKessie has been a better father to you then my father has ever been to me. Your parents love you more than anything else. When you are not in tears I have to tell you about the latest stunt my father pulled." Taylor knew full well that Darby Evans and Charles Danforth would not be winning parent of the year awards.

"I think the most surreal thing about today, is I'm going to my ex boyfriend to make me feel better. I am so frustrated that I have the sudden urge to break things. Since I'm kind of with his son, I probably shouldn't do any more damage to Mr. Evans's house."

"There's some things of Darby's you can go break. Feel free to break anything in the boxes in the hallway. There is also this absolutely ugly ceramic unicorn that Darby gave me when I was five. It is hidden in a closet somewhere. Feel free to break it into a million pieces." Sharpay said walking into the room with ice cream and other assorted junk food. Taylor started to get out of Chad's arms when sharpay stopped her.

"Considering the day that you had you can borrow my boyfriend because your boyfriend has disappeared somewhere. Chad makes a really good pillow." Sharpay said as she sat next to Taylor on the other side.

"Why did Ryan disappear? Ryan is not my boyfriend." Taylor could see both Sharpay and Chad just roll their eyes at her. They had no right to judge her. These are the same two people who were making out with each other all the time for two months and kept screaming up and down that they were just friends. They were being so hypocritical.

"Being pissed off because I didn't tell him about Darby earlier. He didn't tell me about you two being together so he has no right to be mad at me for keeping things from him. Yes, you are my brother's girlfriend. You're sleeping with my brother and he followed you halfway across the country to help you keep Gabriella from going off the deep end. You and Ryan are more than friends."

"We didn't get here in time to keep Gabriella from doing something stupid. Did you listen to my entire conversation with your boyfriend?" Taylor wasn't going to argue the boyfriend point.

"I have a right to eavesdrop on any conversation that takes place in my room." Sharpay said opening the container of double fudge brownie and gave it to Taylor.

"Everyone in that room wanted to beat the hell out of Mrs. Bolton." Chad said to her quickly.

"Here is the planned for tonight until Ryan decides to show up. We will watch musical love stories, eat Ben and Jerry's, and talk about the entire Ryan and Gabriella situation. Please keep all details about what you do with my brother to a minimum. I like to stay in complete denial about my brother's sex life until after the wedding and you come visit us with my niece or nephew."

"Not happen anytime soon," she muttered to herself. She then proceeded to tell Chad and Sharpay everything involving Gabriella, her parents and the entire situation with Ryan. Even about her fears of getting in another long distance relationship. By the end Sharpay and her were both in tears. Yet she did feel a lot better.

* * *

Almost nothing was open in Albuquerque on Thanksgiving at almost 8:00 PM. Ryan was currently sitting at Saran's ice cream shop near the A of U campus. The triple chocolate chip Sunday was improving his mood slightly.

So maybe he overreacted back at the house. He was just so upset that he didn't do anything. He spent the last hour going over the last few months in his head. He would do a lot of things differently now.

He kept thinking back to what he told Taylor on the plane just a few hours ago. Has it only been a few hours? Time seems so abstract at the moment. He made the best decision at the time based on the information he had. Why was he sitting here in an ice cream shop hiding out from his sister and his friend that isn't just a friend? Ryan was pulled out of his thoughts by a familiar voice the he did not want to hear.

"Ryan what are you doing here? I thought you were staying in New York." Kelsey asked as she took the seat next to him.

"So was I. There was a family emergency and I had to come." Considering the fact that Troy didn't even know about Gabriella's history of bipolar disorder Ryan decided not to tell anybody about what really happened including Kelsey. It was really none of her business anyway.

"Is Sharpay okay?" Question the girl with her .

"Ryan you remember my little sister Jackie?" Kelsey said an introduction pointing to the girl who looked nothing like her.

"You were shorter last time. How do you know my sister?" Ryan questioned her.

"She is working with my class EHS this semester and I am the new president of the drama club." Jackie answered him.

"Sharpay is fine. It was something involving my mother." Ryan said not elaborating on the situation.

"Darby issues, say no more. I'm going to get our usual order Kelsey." Jackie said walking away.

"So what is really going on? I've known you for a while. You wouldn't fly halfway across the country without it being important. You probably left Taylor in New York. You wouldn't do that without a good reason." If this were Taylor asking him this, he would tell her everything. With Kelsey, it seem different now. He didn't feel like having a heart to heart with her. Their past familiarity was gone.

"It's fine. Taylor came with me. There was something going on with her mom too. Everything's okay now." That was a complete lie. When Jason gave him the traditional brother/boyfriend talk, he told Ryan everything. Instead of being there for Taylor he was sulking in an ice cream shop talking to his ex girlfriend. An ex girlfriend that for some reason no longer had the same affect on him. He could be around Kelsey right now without his heart being ripped into two.

"Taylor came with you?" Kelsey asked in surprise.

"Yes. Actually Kelsey I'm kind of dating Taylor now." He had no idea why he told her this. He just knew he needed to.

"How long?" She questioned him.

"Just a few days." At that moment Jackie came back with two milkshakes.

"I have to get back to the house. I'll see you back in NYC Kelsey." He said as he got up from the table

"Tell Sharpay hello and that I'm going to interrogate her about everything Monday in class." Jackie reminded him a lot of his sister in high school.

"I will. Be sure to ask her about her engagement ring. Ryan could hear Jackie squeals from the parking lot.

30 minutes later he found himself back at the mansion looking for his sister and Taylor. To his surprise he found them watching _Bride and Prejudice _in what he thought was Sharpay's room_. _He was thrown off by the blue and the basketball trophies on display. Maybe it was the fact that Taylor was laying between her ex boyfriend and the girl that he was now engaged to confused him.

"I personally think that in this situation you are the Darcy character." Taylor said as she took another bite of her ice cream.

"I'd definitely have the psychotic mom who only cares about status." Sharpay said as she reached over to grab her ice cream from Chad.

"Why do I have to be the girl? It wouldn't work. My mom is absolutely terrified at the thought of me getting married any time soon." Chad said as he grabbed the ice cream back from Sharpay. Apparently, they were sharing a carton. As if this twilight zone of a night could get any stranger he walked in on the perfect domestic scene.

"Look who decided to come back?" Sharpay said from the bed. "Are you done sulking yet? I am so mad at you right now. Why am I hearing about you and Taylor from Taylor?" Sharpay said as she threw one of the new blue pillows at him.

"It's only fair considering I found out about you and Chad from Taylor." Ryan said snidely to his sister.

"That was different. How was I supposed to know that she would call you before I had a chance to?" Sharpay said in her defense.

"I found out about your engagement by seeing the ring on your finger." Ryan said bitterly as he pointed to her ring.

"I was going to call you tonight. How was I supposed to know you were going to fly halfway across the country with your new girlfriend just in time to catch the end of the Thanksgiving chaos?" Sharpay said with her trademark pout.

"Hey children we're trying to watch the movie." Chad said throwing another pillow. Unfortunately it hit Sharpay in the head.

"You are sleeping on the couch tonight for that." Sharpay said sticking out her tongue at Chad.

"That's so unfair." At that moment Taylor switch places with Sharpay. Instantly Chad's arms were wrapped around Sharpay even though they were still bickering. It was cute in a disturbing kind of way.

"Come watch the movie with us?" Taylor motioned to the space between her and Sharpay. Ryan quickly moved between the two and place an arm around each one of them.

"We are coming to the part with Ashanti." Chad said to him.

"How many times has my sister made you watch this film?" Ryan asked him.

"This is the seventh time." Chad said with a sigh of annoyance.

"Oh please. You are the one who knows all the lines to _No Life Without Wife_." He has never seen his sister happy like this before.

"That sequence is funny. Hey who do you think should play Wickham?"

"Penelope," both Taylor and Sharpay said at the same time giggling to themselves.

"She is definitely evil enough." Sharpay mumbled under her breath.

"I so want to punch her out." Taylor added as she grabbed the bag of popcorn from the front of the bed.

"So do I." Sharpay said as she grabbed a handful of popcorn.

* * *

Maria found herself at the Albuquerque Medical center talking to Gabriella's doctors. It would probably take them weeks to get her medication straighten out this time. After a console with the doctors she was finally allowed to see her daughter.

The room was stark white with nothing inside that Gabriella could hurt herself with. Gabriella was dressed in a white gown. She was asleep at the moment, most likely sedated. Maria quickly ran her hands through her daughter's hair noticing the new highlights for the first time. At that moment Maria Montez began to cry.

Unknown to her, Gabriella's ex boyfriend and his fiancée watched the entire scene from the hallway.

* * *

Black Friday had this surreal irony to it this year. Taylor was walking hand in hand with Ryan as crazy shoppers were fighting over the last sweater or something like that. Despite the chaos around them things were much calmer than yesterday. Last night she spent a good 45 minutes talking everything out with Chad and Sharpay. They probably should have done this months ago. Sharpay finally managed to convince her that she shouldn't blame Ryan for what she and Chad did to her.

For now she and Ryan were going to be friends who also had a physical relationship. When together they were together and when they were apart they were best friends.

Things with Ryan were relatively simple compared to everything else. Gabriella will probably be in the hospital for weeks as they get her medication regulated again. The doctor said they may be able to see her Sunday before they leave. Taylor was not even sure what to say. "Sorry I was such a horrible friend." Taylor doubted Hallmark made a card for this situation.

The situation with her parents was even more complicated. She spoke with Vanessa and her adoptive mother for about 5 minutes this morning. She Just couldn't bring herself to refer to Vanessa as mom. She still wasn't sure how to handle the situation.

"What are you thinking about?" Ryan asked her as they made their way to Pizza Village to meet everyone. Chad and Troy refused to go shopping with Kim and Sharpay. Their punishment was to take Alex and Jason to the kid filled restaurant. Taylor didn't think of it as much of a punishment. The two were probably competing to see who could get the most tickets.

"I'm just thinking about everything with Gabriella and my family. I just don't know how to fix this." Taylor said with a sigh as she leaned into him.

"Everything is not going to resolve itself right away. There are no easy solutions to these problems. No matter what I promise I'll be there for you."

"That goes for the situation with Darby too. I promise that I will be here for you. No matter what happens with us." Their peaceful moment was interrupted by Sharpay screaming from inside the restaurant.

"Ryan Evans get in here right now and bring your partner in crime." Sharpay was so loud that they probably could have hared her on the other side of the mall without any problems.

"Where did your sister say she was going?" Taylor asked trying to figure out why Sharpay was so angry.

"She said she needed to pick up the replacement cell phones." When he said that Taylor had a good Idea what happened. The fact that her little brother had his eyes covered in disgust As Sharpay held her cell phone with the offending image on display. To keep herself from going to the hospital to punch Gabriella out, she kept repeating over and over again that Gabriella was not well.

"Thank you for exposing my two year old son to pornography. We're going to go play in the ball area now." Troy said sarcastically as he picked up Alex to leave.

"At least we now know why your father threw your cell phone in the lake Wednesday night." Chad said as he checked his voice mail. Then Taylor remembered some of the voice mails she left him yesterday as Chad's mouth dropped wide open. "My hair is not bushy."

"Yes it is. That's the part of that message you react to?" Taylor asked in shock remembering exactly what she said.

"The rest of it was true." Chad said with a wicked smirk. Sharpay just went crimson.

"I don't want to know what you do with my sister." Ryan screamed out in abhorrence as he covered his ears.

"I didn't want to know either." Jason said with a disgusted look on his face. "I saw you taking my sisters bra off with your teeth. I'm sending you my therapy bill." Taylor was happy Jason was freaking out because that means nothing has changed between them. He was still her crazy little brother.

"We have you in my brother doing very inappropriate things on video file for all eternity."

"That was not our fault. Gabriella is the one who sent it to you." Taylor said in their defense.

"I hoped for your sake Gabriella decided not to post this one on You Tube. What happens in Manhattan should stay in Manhattan." Chad said almost laughing. Ryan quickly grabbed Sharpay cell phone out of her hand and started searching for the video on You Tube. For some reason instead of being mad Taylor just laughed. Maybe things were not so bad after all.

**After this will be the epilogue. I will not be posting that for a couple of weeks. For anybody who is reading SFFY, I will not be updating that story this week. My parents were visiting last weekend and I didn't have as much time to write as I normally do.**


	6. Epilogue: The End and The Beginning

Thank you to everyone who has been reading this story. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. This is the end.

**Epilogue: The End and The Beginning**

**December 12, 2008 12:32 PM**

Ryan stood by the escalator at Penn station waiting for Taylor to come. He checked his cell phone and the arrival board every 5 minutes. He missed her so much these two weeks. It was as if he was 12 years old again and he just spent two miserable weeks at dance camp without his sister or his parents. He talked to Taylor everyday on the phone but it wasn't the same. He needed to touch her.

How could he become so addicted to her so quickly? Maybe this is what love is really like. He was starting to think his feelings for Kelsey were just a combination of infatuation and friendship.

The last two weeks were miserable for a million different reasons. The greatest reason was his ex girlfriend. They were not friends anymore. He was deluding himself to think they could be. After he found out about the Natasha situation it just wasn't possible.

He was not upset that she fell in love with another woman. He be lying to himself if he said he never found another guy attractive. He'll be taking the fact that he made a pass at his sister's fiancé and current girlfriend's ex when Chad worked at Lava Springs to his grave. It really didn't matter now because he only noticed Taylor.

What hurt the most was finding out that the woman he was friends with for over six years did not even have the decency to tell him the truth. He told Kelsey about Taylor before he was even sure what was going on himself. Yet she could not pay him the same courtesy. He would probably be less upset if he walked in on Kelsey and Natasha in some passionate embrace. He found out in the worst possible way, from someone else.

Sharpay called him to comfort him when she found out from Kelsey's Sister Jackie. It took him 20 minutes to talk Sharpay out of coming up to New York to kill Kelsey. Kelsey is probably on the top of Sharpay's hate list at the moment.

After that painful revelation, the next day he confronted Kelsey. At first she denied entire thing and accused him of being with Taylor before they broke up. That accusation made him even more upset. After 30 minutes of shrieking and yelling, the truth came out. Yet it didnot come from Kelsey's lips. Natasha told him everything. Natasha told him how she and Kelsey got together while Kelsey was still dating him. Natasha told him the truth when Kelsey couldn't. That was what killed their friendship.

This was all going on during finals hell. It made studying and practicing quite difficult. Performing arts schools did have finals week. Unlike Taylor he was still in the middle of his finals week. He had one more exam Monday morning. After that, he will fly back to New Mexico with Taylor to go to homes that were not really homes anymore.

Taylor will be staying with him in the mansion. She wasn't ready to face her parents adopted or biological. Instead, she will be helping him pack up the mansion. His childhood home will be on the market come January. He wasn't looking forward to doing this.

He was broken out of his thoughts when he saw Taylor coming up the escalator with two suitcases and a backpack. As she reached the ground, she quickly walked over to him with a speed that was quick for someone struggling with two suitcases. He heard them fall to the floor as he felt her arms go around him and her luscious lips descended upon him.

She tasted like strawberries and chocolate with a hint of vanilla. As they continued to merge with each other he knew everything would be okay despite the problems of his parents, the problems with her parents, and the whole Kelsey situation. As long as he had her it would be okay.

**November 30, 2008 10:38 AM**

Of all the possible places one could deal with abreakup a mental hospital is probably the best. You have on call therapist to deal with your problems and no sharp objects. The high levels of medication didn't hurt either. It's a lot easier to deal with a broken heart when you're hopped up on anti depressants. It also helps that she didn't remember anything from talking to Karen on the airplane till she woke up in the hospital bed a day later.

Ryan and Taylor came to visit her today on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Troy already filled her in on everything the day before or at least as much as the doctors would let him tell her. The conversation involved a lot of crying and screaming. She was just well enough at that point to deal with it.

Today Taylor barely said hi to her. She just came in to hug her and walked out crying. Ryan stayed a bit longer. At least long enough for her to actually apologize to him.

"I tried to sleep with you just to get back with Troy. I can't believe I did that." Gabriella looked at him with shame and regret.

"It's okay. You were not well when you did that." Ryan said as he sat on the bed next to her and pulled her into his arms. Ryan is to understanding. Maybe that's what happens when you have Sharpay as a sister.

"I'm sorry. I was so messed up. I did not know what I was doing." Gabriella said as tears fell from our eyes. She cried a lot during her time at the center.

"It's okay besides you made Taylor jealous enough that she made a move."

"Do you love her?"

"Yes, as a friend." She gave him this funny look when he said that. At least she thinks she did. Her body is always weird when she was getting used to the medication again.

"I don't believe you. I know I was in the middle of a mental breakdown, but I'm pretty sure I heard her screaming your name on the night before Thanksgiving. I could still hear what was going on with my head covered with a pillow." Ryan blushed as the words fell from her lips.

"I'm not sure how I feel about her yet. Everything happened so quickly. Can we have this conversation later. Maybe we can talk about how you feel about the whole Troy and Kim situation?" Ryan said quickly. That prematurely ended any conversation.

"Not right now. I don't think I am drugged enough for that conversation.

**December 12, 2008 1:15 PM**

The last two weeks have probably been the hardest of Taylor's entire life. She is adjusting to the fact that Vanessa Kim is her biological mother. She is adjusting to the fact that her best friend is sick. She is adjusting to being with Ryan.

She talked to her mother (adopted) a handful of times in the last two weeks. The conversation stuck to her classes and the schools she was looking at in DC for next year. They didn't talk about the adoption or the fact that they kept it from her for the last 19 years. These conversations went better than her two shouting matches with Vanessa. She wasn't ready to refer to her as mom yet.

Her mom (adopted) was upset that she was spending winter break at the Evans mansion. She told her mom (adopted) it was because she wasn't ready to face her and dad after what happened yet. That was one of the reasons. The other was she wanted to wake up with Ryan every morning.

She didn't tell her parents (adopted) that her and Ryan we're friends with privileges. They lied to her for 19 years why should she tell them the truth of her relationship with Ryan.

Surprisingly Jason was keeping her secret. They actually talked more now than before. He was still mad at their parents for lying to the two of them. Then again, he was also angry for many different reasons being a teenager by association. He was sulking about the fact he didn't have a date to tonight's dance. He was the typical high school freshman even though he was two years younger.

Added to all the family drama was the academic drama. She was ecstatic that she finished her last final yesterday. The mandatory tutoring has been helping greatly. She may squeak by the semester with all Bs.

She was now sitting in a cab in New York with friend's arms wrapped around her. They talked constantly on the phone but she needed to feel him.

"Did you talk to your mother yesterday?" Ryan asked her as he stroked her hair in the back of the cab. Because his roommate permanently moved out yesterday, she was staying with Ryan in his dorm room until they caught their plane Monday after his final exam.

"Which one, my biological or adopted mother?" Taylor asked as she leaned more into him.

"Either." Ryan said kissing her on the forehead as the cab made the final turn to his building.

"Vanessa sent me a picture of the ultrasound of my new biological baby sister. It seems like E mail is the only way we can communicate with each other without screaming." Taylor said with a sigh.

"That's to be expected. Your relationship has completely changed. You have to get used to that." Ryan said as he pulled out his wallet to pay the cab driver.

"I got used to our new relationship quite easily." Taylor said grabbing her bag from the floor.

"That's because the only differences in our relationship are physical."

"Those are good changes. These are messy complicated changes. I just don't see how to make things better." Taylor confessed to him.

"It will be okay. You have me." Ryan said as he squeezed her hand as they got out of the cab. That made her feel much better.

10 minutes later they were outside of Ryan's room on the sixth floor.

"Why can't your building have an elevator?" Taylor said in irritation and half out of breath.

"Because carrying heavy equipment up several flights of stairs builds character." Ryan said sarcastically as he got his keys. "I'm just glad I'm acting major not a music major with a heavy instrument." Ryan said as he opened the door to the closet call a dorm room.

"I fought the rooms at Yale were tiny. I don't even think there's space here to put both beds down on the floor." Taylor said putting her purse on his bed.

"Of course there's not its New York. Are you sure you want to stay here? We can always go ahead and get a hotel room." Ryan asked her quickly.

"You won't get any studying done if we stay in a posh hotel again. It's better if we're just here. How much are we going to be able to do on a bunk bed without me hitting my head?" Taylor said as she walked back outside to get her other bag.

"A lot, all of it will involve you naked and screaming my name."

At that very moment Kelsey and her girlfriend passed by the dorm room. It made sense because Kelsey lived across the hall from Ryan. Taylor was sure she heard Ryan's last statement. At least he was not as specific as usual. Kelsey gave her the same look that she gave Sharpay when she realized that Chad was in love with Sharpay not Taylor.

Kelsey didn't have the right. She was the one who broke Ryan's heart. She was the one who ended their friendship by keeping secrets. Kelsey didn't say a word, she just keep staring at Taylor with eyes fill with sadness and hatred. Wanting to get away from a painful stare Taylor quickly pulled her bag in the room.

"It's as bad as you said it was." Taylor said as she locked the door behind her.

"We haven't said a word to each other since the confrontation a week and a half ago." Ryan said as he pulled her onto the bunk bed.

"Is that going to happen to us?" Taylor said to him as she felt his arms wrapped around her and his lips kiss her neck. Her biggest fear was that if their physical relationship ended she would completely lose him. She couldn't say that she loved him. She's been hurt too much by the people that loved her. She knew what she felt for Ryan was as close as she could come to love without saying the words. It would destroy her if she lost him.

"No it's not." Ryan said pulling her around to face her.

"How can you be so sure? You and Kelsey were the best of friends for years. Now you're not even speaking to each other." Taylor said this with a shaky voice.

"Kelsey and I aren't speaking to each other because she's the one shutting me out. She's the one who ended our relationship. The thing is I don't want to fight for her like I want to fight for you. Also, there is the fact you can be best friends with your ex boyfriend after what happened. If you can be friends with Chad after what happened I think you and I will be okay."

"I'm not best friends with Chad." Taylor said defensively as she leaned into him.

"How many times did you call him this week?" Ryan asked her as he ran a hand across her stomach.

"About six, but we were conspiring to keep Jason from soaking around the house. We're trying to set Jason up with Ms. Ortega's daughter. Jason really needs to get a crush on a girl his own age. Most of the freshman and sophomore girls just see him as the adorable friend."

"What else did you talk about?"

"He sent me the ultrasound of his new brother and sister. We were talking about how surreal it was to be getting brand new siblings at an age when we're old enough to be having children of our own. I mean Troy has a two year old. He also told me about his visit with Gabriella Tuesday before his game. Your sister couldn't be around her yet. I don't even know if I can actually see her in person yet. I can talk on the phone with her but I just - I'm not ready for us to be like we were before."

"The Gabriella thing is going to take time. You have your friends to help you get through this, one of those being Chad. All the conversations you had indicate a very strong friendship. Even after everything that happened, you and Chad are friends. If you can be friends with him now, then I know you and me have nothing to worry about." Ryan said kissing her gently on the lips.

"You and I started out as friends just like you and Kelsey. Chad and I started out hating each other. It's like we're doing it all in reverse. We hated each other, started dating, and then became good friends." Her argument was cut off by Ryan's lips. When he started doing that thing with his tongue that she absolutely loved all argument's fell out of her head.

"Taylor stop worrying." Ryan said peppering her neck with kisses, as his hands began to undo the buttons on her blouse. "Just relax. Everything will be okay." She believes him. It probably helped that his mouth was makeing its way down to her breast. She couldn't think rationally when he was touching her like this. She enjoyed his definition of relaxation.

Especially when Taylor found out that it is possible to have sex on a bunk bed without hitting your head. A part of her hoped that due to the extremely thin walls Kelsey heard every single moan and scream of ecstasy. Taylor decided to be extra loud on purpose.

**December 13, 2008 3:42 PM**

After more than two weeks of therapy and doctors trying different medications she was being discharged from the hospital. She was in a better place now. She felt balanced despite everything that happened. She has accepted not only the fact that her romantic relationship with Troy was truly over, but it never really existed.

What hurt more then finding out Troy had a two year old son with Kim was finding out that his mom used her. Gabriella hated being used. From the cell phone footage her reaction to finding out the news the first time was pretty brutal. She found all this out from Troy's visits to her and their phone calls. He told her the basics of what happened but left out a lot of details that she wasn't ready to process yet. That's when he told her, "no matter what I will still be your friend."

The words were not empty. He contacted all her sorority sisters to organize a way to get notes to her for all of her classes. He even Fed Ex her textbooks to her. He convinced Kim to drop off the notes after Gabriella made her mom go back to New York. Gabriella didn't think she would be as kind if the shoe was on the other foot.

Keeping up with her classes gave Gabriella something to do besides wallowing over everything. He called her a lot and they talked about the things that they lied to each other about for the majority of their relationship.

After her mom left at Gabriella's request, the only person that stopped by other than Kim was Chad. That was a conversation that she didn't want to relive. She hasn't seen Chad sense he fell in love with Sharpay. By the way he yelled at her for what she did to Sharpay she knew without a doubt it was true love. Chad was the only one who didn't treat Gabriella with kid gloves right now. It was refreshing. She needed someone to yell at her. He was the only one not allowing her to get by with what she did. That was fine with her.

After filling out a mountain of paperwork and speaking with her doctors one last time she was free. She felt the winter sun on her skin as she stood in the parking lot. It was her first time outside in weeks.

"The car is over here." Troy said pointing to the black BMW. This was probably his girlfriend's car. From Taylor's taunts, she knew that Kim was wealthy. In the past Troy would have grabbed her hand. Now he pointed at the car.

"Where are you taking me?" Gabriella asked Troy as she put on her seatbelt. She instantly noticed the car seat and Toys that cover the backseat. All signs of Troy's new life without her.

"It's up to you. I can drop you off at the Garden Expressed where Kim reserved a room for you or you can come home with me." She was not entirely sure she wanted to stay at his house with Kim. She wasn't even sure she wanted to be at his house.

"You're only doing that because you don't trust me to be alone in a hotel room by myself." Gabriella said as she activated the radio.

"That's not true." Gabriella just gave him this "are you crazy" look as he said the words.

"Okay it maybe a little true. I mean you wouldn't let your mom comeback. I am just worried about you."

"I don't want my mom to come back because she is part of the problem. I really don't want to hear such concern coming from an ex boyfriend who was already engaged to someone else less than a month after we broke up." Gabriella was quite bitter about that fact.

"Despite the status of my relationship with Kim, I will always be your friend." Troy said as he tried to squeeze her hand. She just pulled away from him.

"Is that true? I'm grateful for the lecture notes and the textbooks. However, if you were ever my friend you would have told me about Kim and Alex a long time ago." She wasn't healthy enough for this conversation, but they were having it anyway.

"How could I? You were too busy being completely wasted at keg parties for me to even talk to you. I was fucking petrified when I found out about Alex. I needed someone to talk to, but you were too busy downing jello shots." Troy said as he started gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

"I'm sorry I was too drunk to realize what was going on. I know now I was self-medicating. Don't use my behavior as an excuse. Were you ever planning on telling me? I'm not just talking about Alex. You never told me about your first love. You lied to me for a year and a half about everything from the status of your virginity to who you really had in the tree house. Don't put the blame on me." She said raising her voice at him.

"You're right I never told you about Kim. I never told anybody about Kim. I did not tell Chad about Kim until I started becoming suspicious about Alex." Troy said with a sigh.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Gabriella said bitterly.

"No it's not. You're right I should have told you about Kim a long time ago. I should have told you about Alex."

"Damn right," Gabriella said feeling that she finally won some victory.

"But you should have told me about being sick." There when her victory. She was not expecting him to bring that up. Her bipolar disorder was essentially the pink elephant in the hospital room that everybody avoided. However she was not in the hospital anymore and Troy was tired of avoiding.

"It was personal." He gave her a look that went completely through her.

"You were my girlfriend. I cared about you greatly. I still do." He specifically didn't say love. She already knew he didn't love her. At least not the way she loved him. He never could because his heart always belong to someone else. Maybe in a different life without Kim he could've loved her. But it was this life they lived and two weeks of therapy had helped her accept that to some degree. She would probably be crying in the guest bedroom at his house tonight. She wasn't ready to be alone in a cold hotel room even if the alternative was staying with her ex boyfriend and his almost wife.

"I think I deserved to know that someone I cared about was sick. I was the closest one two you and I had no idea you were in the middle of a breakdown. If I knew you were sick when you started behaving strangely I would have had you hospitalized. I just thought you were being the ex girlfriend who couldn't let go. What if you decided to swallow a bottle of pills instead of trying to screw Ryan in New York?" Troy was on the verge of tears at this point. She knew her mom told Troy about Natalie.

"You could not have pulled it off." She said trying to break the tension. She did not want to talk to him about the whole Ryan/Taylor situation or the worst case scenario.

"I talked to Kim's mother. Actually it was her stepmother, but considering her biological mother tried to kill my child I will always think of Vanessa as Kim's mom." It seems so strange seeing Troy as an overprotective father and partner.

"Get to the point Troy." Gabriella said in exacerbation.

"I had enough grounds to get you committed for 72 hours here or in California. We both know you were a danger to yourself and others. I know Kim showed you the cell phone footage from when you punched out my mom." She was shock she did something like that.

"You would actually have had me committed?"

"To protect you from yourself yes I would have. I told you despite everything I will always be your friend. I won't let you self destruct." He said the last part so quietly she could barely hear him.

"We didn't have a very good start on our relationship did we?" Gabriella asked in a whisper.

"No we didn't." Troy said agreeing with her.

"I'm willing to try being friends. You are one of the few people anywhere near campus that I actually know." she said that to him with a smile that was somewhat genuine.

"It will only work if there's no more lying. You can't push me away like you did earlier this year. No more running away when things get too hard for you to deal with Gabriella."

"The same goes for you Troy. You can't lie to me again."

"I promise I'll tell you everything."

"So we start over?" Gabriella asked him quietly

"No we rebuild."

**December 15, 2008 10:25 AM**

Ryan walked back to his dorm room after finishing his last final of the semester. His mind was still numb. At least this one was academic in nature and not a practical exam. He is surprise he got any studying in whatsoever this weekend. Taylor plus naughty underwear equals not studying. They spent the whole weekend finding out what positions work best on a bunk bed.

When he opened the door he was expecting to see everything packed and ready to go. He knew they would have to leave for LaGuardia within the hour. Instead, he found Taylor wearing the cream and lace bra and panties set that he send her to replace the one he destroyed on the night of their first time together. He quickly locked the door behind him. He fell Taylor pushed him up against the wall before he even had time to put down his backpack.

"As much as I want to get you out of that outfit we really need to get ready for the Airport." He would be more firm in his resolved if her hand wasn't slowly unbuttoning the fly of his pants.

"Can we just stay here?" Taylor asked him almost pleadingly. Taylor McKessie never pleaded. That in itself had him worried.

"Considering their shutting the doors domes tomorrow at three I don't think that's possible." He said it as a joke.

"I mean in New York. We don't have to go back to New Mexico. Let's just stay here. It can be just you and me together for three weeks without all the problems of Albuquerque." Taylor said kissing him once more.

"We'll have the exact same thing in New Mexico. My sister isn't going to be there except when she comes by to help us packed up the mansion. They're going to be staying somewhere else that month."

"What about everything else? How am I going to deal with that?

"Gabriella is on a plane back to the San Francisco area as we speak. Troy has a game tonight and needed to be back by five. They didn't trust Gabriella to fly back by herself. Therefore, you don't have to deal with Gabriella in the flesh yet." That really did not alleviate her worries.

"The key word is yet. I'm going to have to deal with her eventually." Taylor said with a sigh.

"I will be there with you the entire time. I'll be there for you to deal with your parents, all three of them. Ryan said as he gave her a chaste kiss.

"I know you're right."

"Now as much as it pains me say this, can you please put on some close so we can get ready for the Airport?"

* * *

Gabriella sat in the front of the rental car scared to death as they made their way to her sorority house.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Kim asked from the backseat of the car with Troy son.

"Probably not, but it'll be easier if I get all the exams out of the way now. I don't think I'm that far behind. All the professors agreed to let me take my exams in the next three days. Most of my professors understood. I'm sure they're going to be more understanding than any of the people at the sorority. Do they know about what happen?" Gabriella sincerely hope nobody knew what happens. There's a reason why a she didn't tell anybody at East High that she was sick. She didn't want to be known as the crazy girl.

"They only know what we told them. The papers didn't find out about you being in the hospital." Kim said from the back.

"I told everyone that your mom was sick." Troy told her.

Most people would think she was crazy to spend this much time with her ex boyfriend but in a way it was the only way she could really let go of him. It is easier for her to let go of Troy if he saw him with Kim. It is easier for her to let go if he saw him being a father to Alex. It was easier for her to let go if she saw compelling evidence that the guy she fell in love with in high school never really existed. Being around him and Kim in their home was therapeutic in a weird way. She couldn't go back to the way things were. Her only choice was to move forward.

"So nobody knows what happened?" Gabriella questioned both of them.

"Madison is the only one. By the way, she is your new roommate." Troy said to her quietly

"You don't trust me around Mercedes?" Gabriella asked the two.

"Only because you may decide to strangle her in her sleep for what she did to you," Troy mumbled under his breath as he made the turn to the sorority house.

"I can't believe she actually used you to get with Troy. I'm personally gonna kill her." Kim said getting angry.

"No one's going to kill anybody. We will stick to the plan."

"We're relying on a plan from Sharpay, god help us all." Gabriella mumbled underneath her breath.

"Sharpay is a genius when it comes to psychological torture. I prefer to go for the more direct approach but my boyfriend has a no killing policy. You are no fun." Kim said to her boyfriend in her usual playful voice.

"That's not what you said last night." Troy said with this smile on his face that she never saw before.

"Can we not talk about you and your fiancé having sex? I could still hear you two downstairs wearing earplugs. No wonder we never slept together Troy. She spoiled you for all other women. You and Kim are worse than Ryan and Taylor." Gabriella said lightheartedly.

"She is my stepsister." Kim said with a very evil smirk.

"That's another concept I'm not ready to deal with." Gabriella said as they pulled up to the house.

"That's a concept that even she's not ready to deal with". Kim said as Gabriella and Troy got out of the car.

As expected some sorority girls were outside waiting for Gabriella. Some were moving out of the house after finishing their finals early. Others were running out to exams. A few she knew were specifically waiting for her, particularly Mercedes.

Mercedes was smirking when she saw Gabriella get out of the car. That smirk when into a frown when Troy stepped out of the car and put an arm around Gabriella. Mercedes look like she was going to hurt her. Sharpay was an evil genius.

"I guess my plan worked then." Mercedes said wearing a fake smile. Gabriella must have been under medicated not to realize that Mercedes was a very fake friend.

"Yes and no. Troy and I decided to just be friends." Gabriella said as she kissed Troy on the cheek. She's having way too much fun messing with Mercedes right now to feel uncomfortable about kissing Troy. She knows Kim doesn't care because to her Troy is on stage right now.  
"That's too bad. I know some people are just better as friends. Troy if you need someone to hang out with I will be willing to help." Mercedes said with an evil smile. Gabriella knew exactly what Mercedes met by the turn hang out.

"That's okay, he has me. Kim said as she walked out of the car with Alex in her arms."

"Who is she? Mercedes asked in shock.

"That is Kimberly Bolton." Gabriella put extra emphasis on the last name.

"I had no ideal you had a stepsister Troy." Gabriella had to suppress a giggle. Mercedes was definitely grasping at straws because Gabriella told her all about Kim.

"I am not his stepsister." Kim said as she flashed her real engagement ring and fake wedding ring in front of Mercedes face. Her new roommate was standing in front taping the entire scene. Gabriella quickly grabbed Alex from Kim.

For some reason, Alex loved Gabriella now even though at first he would throw cars at her. He was probably the only reason that she survived two days with the pseudo newlyweds. Now that she had Alex, Gabriella stood next to Madison as she recorded the entire thing for posterity. The look on Mercedes's face was priceless.

"Did I forget to tell you Mercedes Troy got married? His new wife is just fabulous." As Gabriella said this in a voice that concealed a tiny bit of pain, Mercedes fell straight to the ground unconscious. Gabriella will enjoy this moment forever.

* * *

"You know we can catch a plane to somewhere else. I've always wanted to go to Puerto Rico this time a year." Taylor said to her boyfriend as they were grabbing their baggage out of the carousel at the Albuquerque Airport.

"Not going to happen." Ryan said kissing her in an attempt to calm her down.

"I don't want to be here. I know something bad is going to happen."

"It'll be fine. Nothing bad is going to happen because there's nothing left that could possibly go wrong." Ryan said grabbing her hand as they walked to the parking lot.

"You never know. we could walk outside and Sharpay will announce that she's pregnant.

"I'll kill him if he does something like that." Ryan said in a low growl.

"You'll see something bad will happen."

"You're so paranoid. I think that's why I love you." She knew Ryan said it accidentally. That's not the first time. He always refers to the two of them having sex as lovemaking. a part of her knew he meant it.

"You love me?" Taylor asked him.

"Yes. Is that okay?"

"I think that's absolutely perfect. " Taylor said as she pulled him in for one more kiss in the terminal before they faced his sister Sharpay and her friend Chad.

This is the end of _Gabriella Ryan Taylor Manhattan_. It was fun writing this story. I may write another story focused on just these characters later down the road. However these incarnations will be showing up in Sffy.


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